Puya Raimondi is one of the oldest plants in the world. It is the largest member of the bromelaid family and is found in only a few isolated areas of the Andes. We saw them outside of Huaraz in the Huascaran National Park along the route leading to the Pastoruri Glacier (5200 meters), in the Pachacoto Gorge.At its base, the Puya forms a rosette of long, spiked, waxy leaves, two meters in diameter. The distinctive phallic spike of the plant can reach a height of 12 meters during the four month flowering process. This process ends its lifespan of 30 to 100 years (there seems to be a dispute as the lifespan).
When the flowering process is at its peak, as many as 20,000 blooms can decorate a single plant, and create up to six million seeds. Groups of Puya Raimondi bloom together to present a incredible landscape with the backdrop of the Cordillera Blanca.
1 April, 2010
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