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Brocchinia is a genus within the subfamily Pitcairnioideae
Pitcairnioideae

Piticairnioidaeae is the terrestrial subfamily of the bromeliads . Unlike the many epiphytes and lithophytes which comprise the rest of the family, with a few exceptions, all of the members of this subfamily are either terrestrial plant or wiktionary: saxicolous....
 (family Bromeliaceae
Bromeliaceae

Bromeliaceae is a Family of monocot flowering plants of around 2,400 species native mainly to the Tropics Americas, with a few species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa....
) that is native to southern Venezuela
Venezuela

Venezuela , officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a country on the northern coast of South America.The country comprises a continental mainland and numerous islands located off the Venezuelan coastline in the Caribbean Sea....
 and Guyana
Guyana

Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and previously known as British Guiana, is the only state of the Commonwealth of Nations on mainland South America....
, and is found in areas containing sandstone. The genus was named in honor of the Italian naturalist Giovanni Battista Brocchi
Giovanni Battista Brocchi

Giovanni Battista Brocchi was an Italian mineralogist and geologist.He was born in Bassano del Grappa, Italy, and studied jurisprudence at the University of Padova, but his attention was turned to mineralogy and botany....
.

Phylogenetic analysis of the Pitcairnioideae subfamily revealed that Brocchinia represents its own, possibly ancient lineage separate from the other genera within Pitcairnioideae.






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Brocchinia is a genus within the subfamily Pitcairnioideae
Pitcairnioideae

Piticairnioidaeae is the terrestrial subfamily of the bromeliads . Unlike the many epiphytes and lithophytes which comprise the rest of the family, with a few exceptions, all of the members of this subfamily are either terrestrial plant or wiktionary: saxicolous....
 (family Bromeliaceae
Bromeliaceae

Bromeliaceae is a Family of monocot flowering plants of around 2,400 species native mainly to the Tropics Americas, with a few species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa....
) that is native to southern Venezuela
Venezuela

Venezuela , officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a country on the northern coast of South America.The country comprises a continental mainland and numerous islands located off the Venezuelan coastline in the Caribbean Sea....
 and Guyana
Guyana

Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and previously known as British Guiana, is the only state of the Commonwealth of Nations on mainland South America....
, and is found in areas containing sandstone. The genus was named in honor of the Italian naturalist Giovanni Battista Brocchi
Giovanni Battista Brocchi

Giovanni Battista Brocchi was an Italian mineralogist and geologist.He was born in Bassano del Grappa, Italy, and studied jurisprudence at the University of Padova, but his attention was turned to mineralogy and botany....
.

Phylogenetic analysis of the Pitcairnioideae subfamily revealed that Brocchinia represents its own, possibly ancient lineage separate from the other genera within Pitcairnioideae. Because of this position, it has been suggested that Brocchinia is closely related to another subfamily of Bromeliaceae, Tillandsioideae
Tillandsioideae

Tillandsioideae is a subfamily of plants in the bromeliad family Bromeliaceae. This group contains the least amount of genus but the most amount of species ....
, and may represent an evolutionary link between Tillandsioideae and Pitcairnioideae via Glomeropitcairnia
Glomeropitcairnia

Glomeropitcarnia is a genus of the botany family Bromeliaceae, subfamily Tillandsioideae. This plant group had been classified as a genera within the Pitcairnioideae subfamily, but modern cladistic and DNA analysis has revealed them as a member of Tillandsioideae, most closely related to the Guzmania and Mezobromelia generas....
. Botanists performing cladistic
Cladistics

Cladistics is the hierarchical classification of species based on evolutionary ancestry. Cladistics is distinguished from other taxonomic systems because it focuses on evolution rather than similarities between species, and because it places heavy emphasis on objective, quantitative analysis....
 analysis of morphological differences within the subfamily have even made a case for removing Brocchinia from its subfamily. Brocchinia evolved in the Guayana
Guayana Region

The Guayana Region is an Administrative regions of Venezuela of Venezuela.The region has a population of 1,383,297 inhabitants and a territory of 458,344 km?....
 Highlands, possibly from a mesic
Mesic habitat

In ecology, a mesic habitat is a type of habitat with a moderate or well-balanced supply of moisture, i.e. a mesic forest, a temperate hardwood forest, or dry-mesic prairie. The opposite of mesic is xeric....
 ancestor that originated the pitcairnioid lineage at the end of the Cretaceous
Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide, is a geologic period from circa to million years ago . In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period....
 period. Brocchinia most resembles these extinct ancestors to the other genera within the Pitcairnioideae subfamily. Because of its specialized growth habitat on sandstone and its limited dispersal potential, Brocchinia remains limited to the Guayana Highlands, little changed from the time of its origin.

At least one species in the genus, Brocchinia reducta
Brocchinia reducta

Brocchinia reducta is one of few carnivorous plant Bromeliaceae. It is native to southern Venezuela and Guyana, and is found in nutrient-poor soil....
, is considered to be a carnivorous plant
Carnivorous plant

Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods....
. B. reducta, like other bromeliads, collects water in the tank formed by its tightly packed, rosetted
Rosette (botany)

In botany, a rosette is a circular arrangement of leaves, with all the leaves at a single height.Though rosettes usually sit near the soil, their structure is an example of a modified stem....
 leaves, but also has adaptations to attract, kill, digest, and absorb nutrients from insect prey.