SYSTEMATICS OF TILLANDSIA SUBGENUS PSEUDALCANTAREA (BROMELIACEAE)

Tillandsia subg. Pseudalcantarea (Bromeliaceae) includes four species as currently delimited. The phylogenetic relationships of the species in this group are investigated by a cladistic analysis using 16 morpho logical characters, with Vriesea subg. Alcantarea employed as the outg roup. Tillandsia subg. Pseudalcantarea is found to be paraphyletic. Ti llandsia grandis and T. paniculata are transferred to Tillandsia subg. Tillandsia because they are hypothesized to share a more recent commo n ancestor with T. utriculata, the type of the genus, than they do wit h the other two species placed in subg. Pseudalcantarea, i.e., T. bali ophylla and T. viridiflora. These latter two species possibly constitu te a basal clade within Tillandsia and are provisionally retained with in subg. Pseudalcantarea.