Bomarea
Genus of flowering plants
Bomarea is one of the two major genera in the plant family Alstroemeriaceae. Most occur in the Andes, but some occur well into Central America, Mexico and the West Indies. Some species are grown as ornamental plants.
01Description
Vegetative characteristics
Bomarea are terrestrial, erect or scandent herbs with resuspinate leaves.
Generative characteristics
The bisexual flowers have a campanulate to funnel-shaped perianth with free tepals.
02Taxonomy
It was published by Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel in 1802. The lectotype Bomarea ovata (Cav.) Mirb. was designated in 1995. Bomarea is divided into four subgenera, Baccata, Bomarea, Sphaerine, and Wichuraea. The largest is Bomarea with about 70 species.
There are about 110 to 122 species in the genus.
Species
Species accepted as of July 2014:
Etymology
The generic name Bomarea honours Jacques Christophe Valmont de Bomare (1731-1807).
03Ecology
Habitat
Bomarea grow in shaded conditions of tropical forest understory.
Pollination and seed dispersal
The flowers are ornithophilous and the seeds are dispersed by animals.
As invasive plants
In New Zealand, Bomarea has become invasive.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Bomarea”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Bomarea Southern Ecuador.jpg by Eric Hunt, CC BY-SA 2.5
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