Rare and Unusual "Puya berteroniana"
Bloomed During April, 2008
With
metallic, blue-green flowers and orange accents, don't you agree that the
plant shown on this page might look more at home in a silk flower arrangement?
Four times since 2001 crowds have gathered in the spring to see this bodacious
bromeliad when it blooms here at Boyce Thompson Arboretum. 2001 marked the
first time -- after the plant spent three decades growing unobtrusively in
a seldom-explored corner of our cactus garden.
Rains
of 2008 seem to have put the plant in peak condition, according to Steve Carter,
Director of Horticulture at the Arboretum, who reports that during the second
week of April the plant had a record three flower stalks reaching skyward
-- and was approaching peak color. It was "camera ready" through
about April 27, with some color from the last few flowers continuing into
the first few days of May. With bushy rosettes of blue-grey leaves topped
with a seven-foot tall flower stalk of bright blue-green flowers, our lone
Puya berteroniana is an attention-grabber when in bloom!
Visitors
are often surprised to learn that this genus of plants belongs with the Bromeliad
family, and our Puya is more closely related to a pineapple than to native
bear grass -- or the many variants of yucca and agave that line nearby trails
of the Cactus & Succulent Garden. There are 168 species of Puya ranging
from Costa Rica south into the Andean Mountains. Puya berteroniana
is native to Chile and primarily found in the Andean Mountains.
"Puya berteroniana is both rare and spectacular to see
when in flower," said Steve Carter. "I know of no other one near
this size in Arizona…and it is very unlikely you will see it in people's
gardens. This specimen has been in our collection for more than 35 years and
surprised us all when it first bloomed in April of 2001. One year later, it
bore twin flower stalks, each about seven feet tall and topped with a beehive-size
crown of metallic, blue-green flowers and bright orange anthers. Our plant
measures 5-by-8 feet and has 16 heads or clumps of dense rosettes. It looks
like a cross between Arizona's native bear grass and desert spoon with its
arching, blue-grey, leathery and toothed leaves. This species of plant takes
a long time to flower but is well worth the wait. There is truly nothing like
their incredible, other-worldly looking flowers."
The Arboretum's Puya
berteroniana can be found just ten minutes' walk down the Main Trail
from the visitors' center. It is at the southwest end of the Cactus &
Succulent Garden -- just beyond and across from the shaded waterfall at the
Desert Legume Garden entrance.
If
you would like to know about other interesting seasonal plants in bloom, call
Arboretum staff at 520-689-2723 during business hours.
Read about guided tours
and other events at Boyce Thompson Arboretum
