Portea nana comes from a mountainous region covered by moist Atlantic forest at an altitudinal range of 500-600 m. The area is subject to dense fog, which provides ideal conditions for many epiphytes. This forest is rich in bromeliads, both epiphytic and terrestrial. Eromeliad taxa not previously recorded for the state of Bahia such as Neoregelia pauciflora, the wine-colored Nidularium innocentii, Vriesea flammea, and V. breviscapa were seen here.
The region contains many organisms still unknown to science, perhaps because it is hard to reach, or because the efforts of scientists have been concentrated in the lowland forests-always the first to be destroyed by human activities.
Portea nana grows on the higher branches of the tallest trees of the forest, some to 30 meters. With a long stoloniferous habit and a compact leafrosette, P. nana forms dense clumps appearing very similar, from a distance, to those of some Neoregelia species.
The type of Portea kermesina was supposed to be deposited in the herbarium of the Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum, BerlinDahlem, Germany (B). However, according to the information of the Curator of that institution, Dr. Manfred Baessler (pers. comm.), the type of P. kermesina is no longer extant. Smith and Downs (1979) cited the existence of probable clonotypes deposited in the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France (P) and in The Netherlands National Herbarium, in Leiden (L). Although the material deposited in Paris herbarium was not examined for this study, all material deposited in Leiden herbarium looks very typical and probably represents clonotypes of P. kermesina. Examined material of P. kermesina used for comparison in this study are as follows: Brazil: without locality, Leiden Hortus 3640,21 Dec.1964 (L); Leiden Hortus 8291, 10 Apr. 1969 (L); Leiden Hortus 8291A, 7 Feb. 1970 (L); Leiden Hortus 8281, 13 May 1976 (L); Leiden Hortus, leg. B.K. Boom s.n., 27 Feb. 1953 (L); leg. B.K. Boom s.n., 9 Aug. 1955 (L); ex hort. R. Burle Marx s.n., fl. cult. E. Leme 3296, Aug. 2001 (HB); ex. hort Wally Berg 94, fl. cult. E. Leme 4662, Aug. 1999 (HB). —SeeJ. Bromeliad Soc.
