March 2021
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Our March program was from Dr. Claudia Hornung-Leoni. The program: FLORAL CHARACTERISTICS IN BROMELIADS with interesting points about the shapes and colors of the flowers, some characteristics of the nectars found in bromeliad flowers, and the relationship of visitors to the plants (e.g. pollinators and predators). There were many photos of the plants.
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The largest hummingbird in the world, Patagona gigas, takes advantage of the bounty when the largest bromeliad in the world, Puya raimondii, is in flower.
Dr. Hornung-Leoni, originally from Venezuela, is currently a Teacher - Researcher at Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Pachuca, Mexico, in both undergraduate and postgraduate studies. She does research in Botany and Systematics (Taxonomy). Her main lines of research are: 1) traditional and phylogenetic systematics, 2) evolution of characters and studies of morphological variation (allometry and morphometry), 3) interaction of animal- plant, phytotelmata and relationship between floral biology and pollination. She has done fieldwork in Venezuela, Peru, Chile, México and some locations in Colombia.
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