^{(Photograph = Puya raimondii flowers)}

Introduction

The pineapple family has over 3,000 members. These rosette plants grow from deserts to jungles, from sea level to 15,000 ft. One plant in particular from South America is majestic. 

The Details

Puya raimondii, also known as Queen of the Andes, is a giant bromeliad (pineapple relative). It is adapted to grow high in the Andes Mts of Bolivia and Peru. 

Each plant grows as a rosette, slowly forming a trunk. When the plant is large enough, and the conditions are right, P. raimondii blooms and then the mother plant dies. P. raimondii plants are typically 50- to over 100-years old when they bloom. 

A single plant might produce ten million seeds, but the frigid cold and the dry deserts at the high altitudes (2- to 3-miles high), mean that only a few seedlings grow into mature plants. Nonetheless, imagine how important 10 million seeds are to the birds and small mammals of the area. 

Related Reading: Puya raimondii, Threatened