Puya raimondii

Puya raimondii
Puya raimondii flowering in Ayacucho, Peru.
Conservation status
Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
(unranked):	Commelinids
Order:	Poales
Family:	Bromeliaceae
Genus:	Puya
Species:	P. raimondii
Binomial name
Puya raimondii Harms

Puya raimondii, also known as queen of the Andes (English),^[1][2] titanka (Quechua)^[3] or puya de Raimondi (Spanish),^[1] is the largest species of bromeliad. It is native to Bolivia and Peru and is restricted to the high Andes at an elevation of 3000 – 4800 m.^[1]

Taxonomy

The first scientific description of this species was made in 1830 by the French scientist Alcide d'Orbigny after he encountered it in the region of Vacas, Cochabamba, in Bolivia at an altitude of 3960 m (12,992 ft). However, as the plants he saw were immature and not yet flowering, he could not classify them taxonomically.^[4]

The specific name of raimondii commemorates the 19th-century Italian scientist Antonio Raimondi, who immigrated to Peru and made extensive botanical expeditions there. He discovered this species later in the region of Chavín de Huantar and published it as Pourretia gigantea in his 1874 book El Perú.^[5][6] In 1928, the name was changed to Puya raimondii by the German botanist Hermann Harms.^[7]

Description

It is not only the largest of the Puya species, but also the largest species of bromeliad. It can reach 3 m tall in vegetative growth, and can produce a flower spike 9–10 m tall, with more than three thousand flowers and six million seeds in each plant.

Its reproductive cycle is approximately 40 years, though one individual planted near sea level at the University of California Botanical Garden, USA, in 1958 grew to 7.6 m (24 ft 11 in) and bloomed in August 1986 after only 28 years.

Like most bromeliads, it dies soon after flowering. It is considered to be an endangered species. Seeds were collected of P. raimondii in 1999 and 2000 of the rodales of Huashta Cruz (district Pueblo Libre, Ancash region, Peru), near the city of Caraz. It is also known to grow in the Masma Chicche District of Jauja Province.^[8]

Distribution and Habitat

45 km west from Caraz (Ancash - Peru) at 4200m above sea level, at Huashta Cruz, on the Cordillera Negra, there is a rodal (single-species stand) of puyas, with a 145 km view of the Cordillera Blanca. The hilly area is known as Huinchus, and the giant hummingbird (Patagona gigas) is often spotted here.

These plants are mainly located in the three important places of Ancash: the gully of Ingenio in Catac, the punas of Cajamarquilla and the gully of Qishqi, also in Catac. A large concentration of the plants outside of Lampa near Puno is being promoted as the Bosque Puya Raimondi.

In Bolivia - apart from Vacas Municipality, where these plants are spread throughout a small area of about 1 km² - the only other place to find Puya raimondii is Comanche mountain in Caquiaviri Canton, Caquiaviri Municipality, Pacajes Province, La Paz Department.^[9]

See also

• Titankayuq

References

1. Lambe, A. 2009. Puya raimondii. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2009. Downloaded on 09 September 2015.
2. "San Francisco Botanical Garden - News - Rare Flower in Bloom at SF Botanical Garden". www.sfbotanicalgarden.org. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
3. "Bosque de Puyas de Raymondi (Titankayoq o Tikankayoq)". mincetur. Retrieved December 18, 2015. (Spanish)
4. Wait, Benjamin A. (1978). "Puya raimondii: Wonder of the Bolivian Andes". Journal of the Bromeliad Society. Bromeliad Society. 28 (5): 200.
5. El Perú, vol. 1, page 297. Puya. Una espinosa realidad (Puya. One Thorny Reality) (Spanish)
6. Bromeliad Society of San Francisco
7. "Tropicos | Name - Puya raimondii Harms". www.tropicos.org. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
8. "Jauja". aventura4000.org (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 October 2010.
9. La Puya Raimondi se nos muere (Our Puya Raimondi is Dying) (Spanish)

External links

• Photographs of Puya raimondii. Florida Council of Bromeliad Societies.