Pitcairnia calcicola J.R.Grant & J.F.Morales
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- HABITAT
Plants are terrestrial on exposed limestone hills in the lower Tempisque basin of the tropical dry forest of central Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica. The hills on which the plants occur are 100-200 m in elevation and generally lack soil. The surface rock consists of a "hard, porous Eocene limestone" that when exposed on the ridges and upper slopes becomes sharp and deeply creviced (Hartshorn in Janzen, 1983: 129). This is a transition zone between the tropical dry forest typical of northern Guanacaste and the premontane wet forest of the southern Nicoya Peninsula. It has a mean annual biotemperature of 23-24°C, and 1500-1900 mm of rainfall annually (Rodriguez & Estrada, 1994). The area supports a rich ecosystem with a larger number of species than northern Guanacaste, which is the driest region of the country. The bromeliad flora of the tropical dry forest of Guanacaste is a type that extends south from Mexico along the Pacific Coast. With few exceptions, they are primarily xeric species unknown to mesic and wet Costa Rica.
DISTRIBUTION
Pitcairnia calcicola is a narrow endemic of the limestone hills in the tropical dry forest of central Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica. Although it has only been collected once outside the Parque Nacional Palo Verde and Parque Nacional Barra Honda, it is likely to be found in adjacent areas of similar-type geology and vegetation. —See Novon