#puya

[ruthbancroftgarden]

Puya venusta

Ruth Bancroft was delighted when this clump-forming silvery-leaved bromeliad finally flowered in the garden, but sadly it was later killed in a severe cold snap in 1990. It took us a long time to get another one, but we are very happy to have it back! The intense purplish-blue of the flowers, combined with the pinkish-red of the stalks and the silvery leaves - well, it all adds up to a stand-out!

-Brian

[flacius1bombasticus]

Va uram un dragobete spumos și fericit!

🩷🩷🩷🩷

~ flacius1bombasticus, @drowningbats

(ai mei sunt cei din stanga, drowningbats cei din dreapta) (prea multi)

[allnightsong2]

La efimera, solo.

[drhoz]

#3700 - Puya alpestris - Sapphire Tower

I really should have walked back along the tour route and got some better photos of this one - not only are the flowers a very unusual blue-green with bright orange pollen, but the plant only flowers once then dies.

 Photo by Nicolás Villaseca Merino, iNaturalist.

Originally described as German naturalist Eduard Friedrich Poeppig in 1833 as Pourretia alpestris. Poeppig spent part of the 1820s in South America and returned with over 17,000 dried plant specimens. AKA Pitcairnia alpestris and Puya whytei.

Puya is a Mapuche Indian word meaning "point". The specific epithet means "Alps inhabiting" although it refers to the Andes in this case.

Puya alpestris is native to dry hills and rocky outcrops of the Chilean Andes, and is one of the southernmost-growing bromeliads. The sword-like leaves are over a meter long have hooks on the undersides, and the inflorescence up to 4.5m tall, depending on subspecies. It's still dwarfed by its endangered sister species Puya raimondii, which can be 15m tall.

The flowers are pollinated by hummingbirds and other birds, and possibly by the culpeo fox (Lycalopex culpaeus) which manages to get past the leaves to lick at the abundant nectar.

Christchurch Botanical Gardens, Aotearoa New Zealand.

[jadeseadragon]

Repost @by_serge.c

"¿Conoces la puyas de chile 🇨🇱( puya alpestris) ? Esta planta nativa puede tardar décadas en florecer y tiene una increíble flor turquesa."

"Do you know the chile puyas 🇨🇱 (puya alpestris)? This native plant can take decades to bloom and has an incredible turquoise flower."

[phosgore]

Visit Original Link

[k-botany]

Puya alpestris

[cactguy]

Puya field with Yucca, The Huntington, CA