Photographed by Nicholas Hellmuth with the remarkable camera in the brand new Apple iPhone Xs.
Bromeliads tend to grow up in trees; they use the branches and forks in the tree for support. A photogenic example on Topoxte Island (Lake Yaxha), Yaxha ruins, and Nakum ruins areas is Aechmea bracteata. These bromeliads are not parasites.
But there are several genera of bromeliads which are terrestrial (they live only on the ground). Some are solitary or if in a group, only a few (Bromelia karatas) but others occur in massive colonies of hundred(s) of plants. Aechmea magdalenae is found in literally masses, around seasonal aguadas (seasonal waterholes). Teco helped us find two such impressive areas between Yaxha and Nakum.
A week ago, while driving between the Naranjo section of Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo, Q’eqchi-Mayan plant scout, Pedro Chub Choc, of the FLAAR Mesoamerica, saw a previously unseen mass of unknown bromeliads with a mass of plum-sized fruits directly along the edge of the road. Our research team was able to identify these as Bromelia pinguin.
The spiny leaves help this Bromelia pinguin plant be a popular “living fence” since neither animals nor people will cross a row of these spiny plants. But they are mainly in extremely dry areas: Jocotan or the Motagua River dry areas (km 50 to 100). Thus I was very surprised to find Bromelia pinguin wild in Peten.
One of our goals in the Yaxha Nakum Naranjo national park is to make a list of as many of the unique plants as possible. Even though this thicket of bromeliads is outside the park, now that we know its eco-system (surprisingly, on a low hill, NOT in an aguada area), we can try to find the same species within the park. We believe they can be found between Yaxha and Nakum, though the eco-system there is not hilly, but dry seasonally wet “aguada-like” areas. More to come after we do further research.
If you enjoy seeing photogenic and exotic plants, consider visiting Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo, Peten, Guatemala. You can stay at the hotel Ecolodge El Sombrero (and if you are clever to be there same days as Dr Hellmuth and the FLAAR team are there, you can have dinner and ask questions).
Posted Oct. 15, 2018
