Orthophytum Beer (1854: 347) subg. Orthophytum

Leme, Elton M. C., Ribeiro, Otávio B. C., Souza, Fernanda Vidigal D., Souza, Everton Hilo De, Kollmann, Ludovic J. C. & Fontana, André P., 2020, Miscellaneous new species in the “ Cryptanthoid complex ” (Bromeliaceae: Bromelioideae) from Eastern Brazil, Phytotaxa 430 (3), pp. 157-202 : 179-180

4. Orthophytum Beer (1854: 347) subg. Orthophytum

In the “Cryptanthoid Complex”, Orthophytum subg. Orthophytum , currently comprising 44 species, has an inland geographical distribution, from Espírito Santo state (Southeastern region), to Ceará state (Northeastern region), usually associated with open, rocky outcrop environments in low to medium elevated habitats. Plants are stemless or pseudocaulescent (when the distinction between the elongation of stem/peduncle is equivocal), propagating by short shoots, stolons/rhizomes or sometimes adopting a pseudovivipary strategy (see Leme et al. 2017). The short to long pedunculate, mostly compound, short and compact to distinctly elongate inflorescences are typically once branched of fascicles of flowers. Sepals are free, and the white to greenish free petals, forming prevailing tubular corollas, present echinatiform petal appendages (rarely cupuliform). The stigma is almost always simple-dilated, with densely papillate lobes. Fruits are comparatively small, with persistent sepals distinctly longer than the fruit length, and seeds are usually small and numerous.

The genus Orthophytum , with five subgenera, comprises the total of 64 species, including all six new species proposed below.