Bromeliads and their symbiotic relationship with frogs
Fun Fact
Bromeliads are a gorgeous houseplant staple, you find them in all sorts of different colours and shapes. One of the most striking is the Vriesea, which comes in a variety of bright colours, from pinks, to oranges, purples and reds and are fairly common in most garden centers.
The big dog, absolutely gorgeous Aechmea fasciata or silver vase plant. They have these lovely strappy silver leaves and this giant pink bloom composed of brachets. People often think that the large thing poking out of the plant is the flower. However that is more a structure of leaves and the little purple petal structures are your actual flowers.
Though they are not my favorite bromeliads, as they can be a bit vicious. They have barbed leaves that when they can you they don’t make a clean wound leaving the injured site feeling quite sore. The bloom itself also has enzymes for digesting proteins, which will make sense later which also can leave you with a stinging sensation and redness. Unfortunately I know from personal experience battling these plants. I recommend a sturdy pot to keep these big boys up right. However if you squeeze the bloom, some cultures use the residue as shampoo.
In their natural habit, you wouldn’t find the majority of bromeliad species nesseled into the ground via their roots. This is due to the fact that around 60% of the species are epiphytes, meaning they grow up high in the trees. Clinging to trees via their roots. So how on earth do these plants get any water or nutrition? Well, the mesic epiphytes (mesic meaning tropical air plant, desert ones are called xeric, but i can talk about that another day) enjoy the humidity and collect water with their large strappy, crown-like leaves. Forming a reservoir at the base of their leaves. Which is what our mucus-ey friend loves.
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Due to this particular way of life, this plant gains an interesting companion. Frogs. Frogs love to hang out in the little reservoirs. Creating a symbiotic relationship due to the fact that the frogs provide nutrients through their waste allowing for these plants to thrive.
So yeah these fairly common houseplants you may find in your local garden center, in their home back in Central and South America they have little frog friends who like to hang out in their naturally provided swimming pools
If that’s not the fun-est fact ever then I don’t know what it is!
PS, if you see your plant, with child. This is called a pup and it means your mother plant is coming to the end of her life. To carry on her legacy propagate these pups and youll have a whole new geneticlly identical linege to carry on with
Hope youve enjoyed reading this
Emma
