Brocchinia has undergone a spectacular adaptive radiation in mechanisms of nutrient capture, apparently in response to the unusually infertile, heavily leached substrates of the Guayana Shield.Givnish TJ, Sytsma KJ, Smith JE, Hahn WJ, Benzing DH, Burkhardt EL. 1997. Molecular evolution and adaptive radiation in Brocchinia (Bromeliaceae: Pitcairnioideae) atop tepuis of the Guayana Shield. Pp. 259-311 in TJ Givnish and KJ Sytsma, "Molecular Evolution and Adaptive Radiation", Cambridge University Press At least two species, Brocchinia reducta and B. hechtioides, appear to be carnivorous. Like most species of Brocchinia – and indeed, of many other bromeliad genera – these two species impound rain water in a tank formed by tightly overlapping leaves arranged in a basal rosette. In these species, however, the leaves are nearly vertical, their inner surfaces are covered with fine wax that readily exfoliates, the tank fluid is highly acid (pH 3.0) and emits a sweet, nectar-like odor, and the tank itself is full of the dead remains of ants (B. reducta) or bees and wasps (B. hechtioides). Recently, it has been shown that at least B. reducta secretes a phosphatase into its tanks.Plachno BJ, Jankun A. 2005. Phosphatase activity in glandular structures of carnivorous plant traps, International Botanical Congress Vienna, P1716, The Jagiellonian Univ., Inst. of Botany, Dept. of Plant Cytology and Embryology, Krakow, Poland.
