Puya raimondii

Saw a lof of fantastic plants on my recent visit to the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden. My favorite was undoubtedly the flowering Puya raimondii, the largest bromeliad species in the world. The flower stalk is over 10 m tall, it has over ten thousand flowers, and it is estimated to set from 8 to 12 million seeds. Quite a reproductive effort. [NOTE: I was pleased to learn that the seeds from which this individual was produced were collected in 1999 near La Paz, Bolivia by Dr. Jim Luteyn (retired) of the NYBG].