Bromelia pinguin L., Bromeliaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Threat only at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

English: pinguin, wild pine

French: ananas marron

Spanish: piñelo, piñuela, piñuela

Habit:  bromeliad

Description:  "Leaves many, rosulate, often over 2 m long, not at all constricted between the sheath and the blade; sheaths very broad, densely and coarsely tomentose-lepidote; blades linear, attenuate, 4 cm wide, deep green above, pale green and very minutely pale-appressed-lepidote below, armed with stout teeth up to 10 mm long. Scape stout, white-farinose; scape-bracts foliaceous but with the sheaths roseate and subinflated. Inflorescence many-flowered, narrowly pyramidal, white-farinose; primary bracts like the scape-bracts but the upper ones entire; branches up to 12-flowered. Floral bracts linear-subulate from a short broad base, 3 cm long, much shorter than to about equaling the ovary; flowers up to 6 cm long, distinctly pedicellate. Sepals erect, very narrowly triangular-subulate, 15-30 mm long, flat or nearly so, pale; petals 3 cm long, 5.5-6 mm wide, linear-elliptic, rose with white base and margins, densely white-tomentose at the apex; ovary slenderly ellipsoid, 2 cm long. Fruit ovoid, about 35 mm long, yellow or ochraceous, strongly verrucose, acidulous, aromatic" (Smith & Downs, 1979; pp. 1665-1666).

Habitat/ecology:  "Dry thickets and slopes, from slightly above sea level to 780 m altitude" (Smith & Downs, 1979; pp. 1665-1666).

Propagation:  Seed?

Native range:  "Mexico and the West Indies to Guiana and Ecuador" (Smith & Downs, 1979; pp. 1665-1666).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Santa Cruz Group	Santa Cruz Island	introduced cultivated	Charles Darwin Research Station (2005)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Colombia Colombia	Colombia (Republic of)	native	Smith, Lyman B./Downs, Robert Jack (1979) (p. 1665)
Costa Rica Costa Rica	Costa Rica (Republic of)	native	Smith, Lyman B./Downs, Robert Jack (1979) (p. 1665)
Ecuador (Mainland) Ecuador	Ecuador (Republic of) (continental)	native	Smith, Lyman B./Downs, Robert Jack (1979) (p. 1665)
El Salvador El Salvador	El Salvador (Republic of)	native	Smith, Lyman B./Downs, Robert Jack (1979) (p. 1665)
Guatemala Guatemala	Guatemala (Republic of)	native	Smith, Lyman B./Downs, Robert Jack (1979) (p. 1665)
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)	native	Smith, Lyman B./Downs, Robert Jack (1979) (p. 1665)
Panama Panama	Panama (Republic of)	native	Smith, Lyman B./Downs, Robert Jack (1979) (p. 1665)

Comments:  Reported as possibly an invasive plant in the Galápagos Islands per Charles Darwin Research Station.

Additional information:
Additional online information about Bromelia pinguin is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Bromelia pinguin as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Bromelia pinguin may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Charles Darwin Research Station. 2005. CDRS Herbarium records.

Smith, Lyman B./Downs, Robert Jack. 1979. Bromelioideae (Bromeliaceae). Flora Neotropica, Mon. 14(3):1493-2142.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2008. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.