''Aechmea nudicaulis'' is a

bromeliad The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a Family (biology), family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the Tropics, tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and on ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

in the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Aechmea ''Aechmea'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bromeliaceae (subfamily Bromelioideae). The name comes from the Greek ''aichme'', meaning "spear". Suggested pronunciations include and . ''Aechmea'' comprises eight subgenera and aro ...

'', which is often used as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

. This species is native to

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

, central and southern

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, and northern and central

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> The following varieties are recognized : # ''Aechmea nudicaulis'' var. ''aequalis'' L.B.Sm. & Reitz, 1963 - Espírito Santo # ''Aechmea nudicaulis'' var. ''cuspidata'' Baker, 1879 - Brazil, Guyana, Venezuela, Ecuador # ''Aechmea nudicaulis'' var. ''nordestina'' J.A. Siqueira & Leme, 2006 - northeastern Brazil # ''Aechmea nudicaulis'' var. ''nudicaulis'' - most of species range A number of

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s derived from this species are commercially available. These are either selected forms, or hybrids arising from crosses with other species, including: *''Aechmea'' 'Parati' *''Aechmea'' 'Rakete'

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2825498 nudicaulis Flora of Southern America Flora of Central America Flora of the Caribbean Flora of Mexico Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Flora without expected TNC conservation status