Photo taken on Nov 09, 2012

Why there are so especially many striped species in bromeliad family? I haven't found someone explaining that competently. On the one hand, variegated leaves (afar) are more often found with shade-enduring plants living in the forest floor. On the other hand, every flower-breeder knows: lack of light leads to less colored, more simple green leaves — when there is too little light, the plant has no extra strength for coloring, it should put all resources to catch as much light as possible. I found one interesting source, it draws logical (partly experimentally proven) hypothesis that variegated leaves can be either a disguise (so called “disruptive coloration”, as with tigers or Malayan tapir) or a repellent (“This leaf is of a strange, not-evenly-green coloring, maybe that's due to the fact that someone is already eating it… thus, you, pregnant insect mom, go away and look for some another — un-eated — leaf to lay your eggs on”). Obviously, the variegated camouflage works much better in a shady forest, were tree crowns form sun-dappled light conditions. And many bromeliads live exactly in such forest understory conditions.

In the centre of the photo you see Orthophytum (endemic to Brazil; the upper right photo shows its part), below it — “bromeliad king” Vriesea hieroglyphica (endemic to Brazil, too); above it — Neoregelia. Bottom right photo shows Cryptanthus zonatus (endemic to Brazil again).

St. Petersburg Botanical Garden, orchids and bromeliads exhibition

species Orthophytum gurkenii
species Bromeliad king Vriesea hieroglyphica
species Cryptanthus zonatus
genus Neoregelia