During the years 2007-2011 the author of this website has published a series of articles in the Journal of the Bromeliad Society, a bimontly publication of the Bromeliad Society International. In those articles, titled Bromeliad Icons in old publications, illustrations of bromeliads (mostly colored plates) were treated that have been published in magazines and books from predominantly the 19th century. The information presented here is based on those articles and often references are made to the BSI Journal. The two chapters on the pineapple as well as the ones on 20th century botanical art and my watercolors are added and on this website only.

Introduction		Great Britain		Germany		Netherlands, Czechia, Sweden
Belgium		Austria		France		Spain and Latin America
The pineapple 1		The pineapple 2		20th century botanical art		My watercolours

From 1799-1804 Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland explored South America (in current Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador). The oil-painting above was made by the Austrian painter Eduard Ender about 1850 and titled 'Alexander von Humboldt und Bonpland im Orinoko-Gebiete'. The species of bromeliads depicted (see detail) look like Billbergia zebrina and Vriesea psittacina, described in 1826 and 1828 from eastern Brazil. In the corner right-below of the painting is another plant resembling a bromeliad.