Tillandsioideae [SEP] parent taxon
Tillandsioideae
Tillandsioideae is a subfamily of plants in the bromeliad family Bromeliaceae. This group contains the fewest genera (9) but the greatest number of species (1,277). Most are epiphytic or lithophytic, growing in trees or on rocks where they absorb water and nutrients from the air. Spanish moss of the "Tillandsia" genus is a well-known variety. Bromeliads in the genera "Guzmania" and "Vriesea" are the more commonly cultivated members of this subfamily.
Description.
Nearly all bromeliads have specialized
Taxon in disguise
In bacteriology, a taxon in disguise is a species, genus or higher unit of biological classification whose evolutionary history reveals has evolved from another unit of similar or lower rank, making the parent unit paraphyletic. This happens when rapid evolution makes a new species appear radically different from the ancestral group, so that it is not (initially) recognised as belonging to the parent phylogenetic group, leaving the latter an evolutionary grade.
While the term is from bacteriology, parallel examples are found throughout the tree of