Puya alpestris

Habit and inflorescence with green, sterile tips of the inflorescences part of Puya alpestris.

The Puya alpestris is a plant of the family Bromeliaceae ( Bromeliaceae ). The specific epithet alpestris for " Alps -dwelling " refers in this type of the Andes. It is native to dry hills in Central and Southern Chile and belongs within the family to the most southerly occurring species. Puya alpestris is one of the few Puya species that are maintained in some parks and gardens.

Description

Puya alpestris grows as xerophytic perennial plant. It is formed a rosette of leaves on a short stem. The coarse, stiff protruding, parallel venation leaves running into a sharp tip, have a length of about 1 m and a width of 2 to 2.5 centimeters. The leaf margin is armed with hooked curved, about 0.5 cm long spines. The lower leaf surface is densely scaly white.

Only after many years an upright, relaxed, rispiger total inflorescence is formed which is composed of numerous racemose partial inflorescences. It contains many bright red bracts and many individual flowers. The tips of the partial inflorescences are sterile. The flower stalk is about 7 mm long. The hermaphrodite flowers are in threes. The three greenish sepals are about 2.3 cm long and hairy or bald. The three metallic blue petals with blunt tip are about 4.5 cm long and rotate the fading spiral one. The six stamens have bright orange anthers. The flowers make much nectar. In its heyday, one can observe hummingbirds and other birds that pollinate the flowers ( Ornithophilie ).

There are trained fruit capsules, each containing many small, capable of flying seeds are formed. After semen and Kindel education the mother plant dies slowly.

System

This species was in Fragmentum Synopseos Plantarum Phanerogamum by Eduard Friedrich Poeppig 1833 8 first described under the name Pourretia alpestris. Another synonym is Puya whytei Hook.f.