Anwyl Bromeliads   Glossary

 

abdita

botanical term, meaning hidden, concealed or secret.

 

BSI.

The Bromeliad Society International.

cline

A succession of plant populations over a geographic range that have acclimatised in different locations and are slightly different to each other. The differences gradually accumulate until eventually speciation may occurs—if that happens you have in effect a different species at each end of the cline, with a range of intermediate forms stretching between them. 

Ecosur

El Colegio de La Frontera Sur, an ecological research institute in Chiapas, Mexico. In the 1990's, they were attempting to establish alternate sources of income for local farmers who otherwise depended on felling native trees for fuel. One project was to cultivate populations of local bromeliad Tillandsia eizii  and sell the seed to collectors worldwide.

monocarpic

Only one method of reproduction. Used to refer to tillandsias, usually larger tank-type varieties, that normally set seed easily but do not produce conventional offsets. These plants do often produce numerous small seedling-like adventitious offsets when they are quite young. These adventitious offsets do not develop on the parent plant unless the parent is severely damaged prior to flowering, and die off  when the plant comes into flower. In cultivation the adventitious offsets can usually be removed prior to flowering and grown on like seedlings.

xeric

Shorthand for "xerophyte," used to distinguish plants that have adapted to grow in very dry conditions that promote rapid moisture-loss from the plant. Commonly used to refer to tillandsias that have silver or hard, grey  leaves and absorb carbon dioxide from the air at night when moisture-loss is minimised. See articles on respiration and vapour pressure deficit.