Louzada et al. 2015 (Conference Paper) Brazil

The Brazilian checklist of Plants: Bromeliaceae

Author(s):—Rafael Batista Louzada, Rafaela Campostrini Forzza, Andrea Costa, José Alves Siqueira Filho, Gustavo Martinelli, Raquel Fernandes Monteiro, Fernanda Santos-Silva, Daisy Pereira Saraiva, Bruno Paixão-Souza & Leonardo Melo Versieux in Benko-Iseppon, A.M.; Alves, M. & Louzada, R. (2015) An overview and abstracts of the First World Congress on Bromeliaceae Evolution. Rodriguésia 66(2): A1-A66.

Publication:— (2015).

Abstract:—The first inventory for Bromeliaceae in Brazil was made by Mez (1891) in Flora Brasiliensis and accounted for408 species in 31 genera. The Brazilian Flora Checklist, the most recent inventory of plants from Brazil, has listed 1341 species and 44 genera for the family, an increase of two times the number of species cited in Flora Brasiliensis. Brazil holds in its territory six phytogeographic domains: Amazon Rainforest, Atlantic Rainforest,Caatinga, Central Brazilian Savanna, Pampa and Pantanal. In all of them are found species of Bromeliaceae. The most diverse domain, for Bromeliaceae, is the Atlantic Rainforest with 906 species and 30 genera, also considered a diversity center for the Bromelioideae subfamily. In this phytogeographic domain, the genus Vriesea (184 spp.) accounts for the majority of species followed by Aechmea (156 spp.) and Neoregelia (102spp.). Although Vriesea is the most diverse genus in Atlantic Rainforest, Aechmea species found in this domainrepresent 55% of all species in the genus in the country. Besides the Atlantic Rainforest, another vegetation type with a remarkable diversity is the campos rupestres (rocky fields) from the Espinhaço Range which are located in the Central Brazilian Savanna and Caatinga. For the Central Brazilian Savanna are reported 257 species and 20 genera in which 126 and 16 of each occur in the campos rupestres physiognomy. Caatinga presents 130 species and 18 genera in which 53 species and 18 genera occur in the Chapada Diamantina, the northern portion of the Espinhaço Range. In Caatinga s.l., the highest diversity is in the almost limited to the saxicolous genus Orthophytum, with 31 species. The Amazon Rainforest presents 132 species in 22 generaand it is important to stress the diversity of some genera, such as Aechmea (27 spp.) and Pitcairnia (18 spp.), as well as the occurrence of the basal genus Brocchinia. Pampa and Pantanal are the two domains with lower diversity in Bromeliaceae, showing 36 species and 6 genera, and 6 species and 4 genera, respectively. Generaldata, such as the number of taxa by state in Brazil, vegetation type, endemism, geographic distribution, type specimens citation and images are available as open access in the website of the Brazilian Flora Checklist.

Keywords:—Floristic Inventory; Brazilian Flora; Neotropics.