Puya (plant)
Appearance
Puya | ||||||||||||
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Puya alpestris |
Puya is a genus of 160-180 species in the bromeliad family Bromeliaceae. They are native to the Andes Mountains of South America and southern Central America. Many of the species are monocarpic, with the parent plant dying after one flower and seed production event.
The species Puya raimondii is notable as the largest species of bromeliad known, reaching 3 m tall in vegetative growth with a flower spike 9-10 m tall. The other species are also large, with the flower spikes mostly reaching 1-4 m tall.