# Billbergia

Billbergia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bromeliaceae, subfamily Bromelioideae.

## Description

The Billbergia species are rosette-forming, evergreen perennials, usually epiphytic, occasionally terrestrial or lithotypic in habit. They are mostly medium-sized species with small funnel diameters. Most species are epiphytes, some species grow on plants, on rocks, as well as directly on the ground. Water collects in the leaf funnels. In many funnels there are small biotopes with several species of animals and algae and aquatic plants. The rough leaves are always reinforced on the edge (as with all genera of the Bromelioideae), with a spiked tip. In some species and varieties, the leaves are beautifully colored. In many species, suction scales are everywhere on the leaves, often also on the inflorescence.
They often bloom with brilliantly colored flowers with long-lasting inflorescence (inflorescences). The inflorescence often hang with terminal scape, erect or decurved. Strikingly colored bracts (bracts) often sit on the inflorescence; the color red dominates (usually with a blue component).
Flowers bisexual, sessile or conspicuously pedicellate; sepals free; petals free, threefold with a double perianth, with basal appendages, often spirally recurved at anthesis; stamens free or adnate to the petals, the anthers without appendages; inferior ovary. There are three sepals present. The three petals often have different shades of blue, there are also yellow, green and white. Birds are the pollinators of the blue-flowered species. An important characteristic that distinguishes them from other genera is that their petals curl up when they wither. The individual flowers only bloom for a few hours and can be pollinated for much less time. Most species have small scales (Ligulea) at the base of the petals. The six stamens and the style often protrude far from the flower. A large part of the species blooms at night. The flower formula is: $\star$ bis $\downarrow \;K_{3}\;C_{(3)}\;A_{3+3}\;G_{\overline {(3)}}$
The fruits are multi-seeded berries, often heavily colored when ripe; red to blue dominate here. The fruits are eaten by animals (mainly by birds, less often by bats and monkeys). The seeds are excreted undigested and end up on branches with the feces.

## Taxonomy

The Swedish botanist Carl Peter Thunberg (1743–1828) established the genus Billbergia in Plantarum Brasiliensium ..., 3, 1821 p. 30 with the type species being Billbergia speciosa. The genus, named for the Swedish botanist, zoologist, and anatomist Gustaf Johan Billberg (1772–1844), is divided into two subgenera: Billbergia and Helicodea. Species in subgenus Helicodea are distinguishable by the tightly recurved 'clock spring' flower petals, unlike other billbergias where the petals are flared.

### Species

| Subgenus | Scientific name | Distribution |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia acreana H. Luther | Brazil (Acre) |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia alfonsi-joannis Reitz | from Espírito Santo to Santa Catarina |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia brasiliensis L.B.Sm. | Rio de Janeiro |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia brachysiphon L.B.Sm. | Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia cardenasii L.B.Sm. | Bolivia |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia cylindrostachya Mez | Rio de Janeiro |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia dasilvae Leme | Rondônia |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia decora Poepp. & Endl. | Peru, Bolivia, Brazil |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia eloiseae L.B.Sm. & Read | Colombia |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia formosa Ule | Peru |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia incarnata (Ruiz & Pavón) Schultes f. | Peru |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia issingiana T.Krömer & E.Gross | Bolivia |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia jandebrabanderi R.Vásquez & Ibisch | Bolivia |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia macrolepis L.B.Sm. | Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia magnifica Mez | Brazil, Paraguay |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia meyeri Mez | Brazil, Bolivia |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia microlepis L.B.Sm. | Bolivia |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia oxysepala Mez | Acre, Ecuador |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia pallidiflora Liebmann | Mexico and Central America from Sinaloa to Nicaragua |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia porteana Brongn. ex Beer | Brazil, Paraguay |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia robert-readii E.Gross & Rauh | Peru |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia rosea Beer | Trinidad, Venezuela |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia rubicunda Mez | Suriname |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia rupestris L.B.Sm. | Colombia, Acre |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia stenopetala Harms | Ecuador, Peru |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia tessmannii Harms | Peru |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia violacea Beer | Brazil, Colombia, Guianas |
| Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker | Billbergia zebrina (Herb.) Lindl. | Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia ambigua (L.B.Sm. & Read) Betancur & N.R.Salinas, syn. Pseudaechmea ambigua | Antioquia |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia amoena (G.Lodd.) Lindl. | Brazil |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia bradeana L.B.Sm. | Espírito Santo |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia buchholtzii Mez | Brazil, but probably extinct |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia castelensis E.Pereira | Espírito Santo |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia chlorantha L.B.Sm. | Espírito Santo |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia × claudioi Leme - Brazil |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia distachya (Vell.) Mez | southern Brazil |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia domingosmartinsis E.Gross | Espírito Santo |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia elegans Martius ex Schultes f. | Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia euphemiae E.Morren | southeastern Brazil |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia horrida Regel | southeastern Brazil |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia iridifolia (Nees & Mart.) Lindl. | southeastern Brazil |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia kautskyana E.Pereira | Espírito Santo |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia laxiflora L.B.Sm. | Espírito Santo |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia leptopoda L.B.Sm. | Bahia, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia lietzei E.Morren | Espírito Santo |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia lymanii E.Pereira & Leme | southeastern Brazil |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia macracantha E.Pereira | Rio de Janeiro |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia macrocalyx Hooker | Bahia, Minas Gerais |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia manarae Steyerm. | Venezuela |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia minarum L.B.Sm. | Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia morelii Brongn. | eastern Brazil |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia nana E.Pereira | Bahia, Espírito Santo |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia nutans H.Wendland ex Regel | Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia pohliana Mez | Minas Gerais |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia pyramidalis (Sims) Lindl. | Brazil, Venezuela, French Guiana, Lesser Antilles, Cuba; naturalized in Mauritius |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia reichardtii Wawra | Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia sanderiana E.Morren | southeastern Brazil |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia saundersii W.Bull | eastern Brazil |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia seidelii L.B.Sm. & Reitz | Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia speciosa Thunb. | southeastern Brazil |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia tweedieana Baker | southeastern Brazil |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia viridiflora H.Wendland | Belize, Guatemala, Tabasco |
| Subgenus Billbergia | Billbergia vittata Brongn. | eastern Brazil |

## Distribution

They are native to forest and scrub, up to an altitude of 1,700 m (5,577 ft), in southern Mexico, the West Indies, Central America and South America, with many species endemic to Brazil.