Named in honour of Prince von Hohenberg (Prince of Wurttemberg) died c. 1830, a German patron of Botany.
Medium to large plants. Leaves in a rosette; sheath usually distinct and dark brown; blade ligulate, usually conspicuously spined. Inflorescence of pine cone-shaped branches, usually 2-4 pinnate, woolly or hairless; floral bracts conspicuous; flowers stalkless; sepals with no pronounced tip; petals have a claw-like base, spreading; stamens included. Fruit a berry.
There are two subgenera: subgenus Wittmackiopsis, from the Greater Antilles and very rare in cultivation, and subgenus Hohenbergia, mainly from Brazil, fairly rare in cultivation because of its size. They have purple, blue, rose, yellow or green flowers.
Only 3 species are found in cultivation.
20 species in tropical America.
Source: (2005). Bromeliaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.