Puya raimondii SEEDS

Puya raimondii, also known as queen of the Andes, titanka and ilakuash or puya de Raimondi is the largest species of bromeliad, its inflorescences reaching up to 15 m in height. It is native to the high Andes of Bolivia and Peru.It was once hypothesized to be a protocarnivorous plant.

The queen of the Andes is the largest species of bromeliad.Its trunk can be 5 meters tall, with a rosette of about two hundred linear leaves, these up to 1.25 m (ong and about 8 cm in width, the leaf spines reaching 1 cm long. The inflorescence can measure between 4–8 m tall. The whole plant may reach as much as 15 m tall. A single plant can produce between 8,000 [6] and 20,000 [10] flowers in a 3-month period.

Its reproductive cycle (and life) lasts approximately 80 years, though one individual planted near sea level at the University of California Botanical Garden, bloomed in August 1986 after only 28 years.[2] It is semelparous, dying after first reproduction.

The plant has been identified to form a close relationship with pollinating birds, and was even hypothesized to be a protocarnivorous plant due to its abilities to ensnare birds in the spiny fronds. However, the adaptations seen in Puya that lead to ensnarement of birds seems most likely to be instead a defense mechanism.