Puya chilensis SEEDS

Puya chilensis seeds grow into the Chilean puya the largest of the Chilean Puya species, native to the subtropical biome of central Chile, from the Atacama Desert margins south through Coquimbo and Valparaso. Named after Chile and described by Juan Ignacio Molina (1782), the same Jesuit naturalist who coined the genus name from the Chilean vernacular. A giant terrestrial bromeliad forming a dramatic rosette of long, fiercely spiny leaves that can reach 12 m across; the flower scape can reach 24 m tall bearing yellow-green flowers. Notoriously used as a trap by Andean birds small birds can become fatally impaled on the recurved leaf spines. Subfamily Puyoideae. Family Bromeliaceae.

Full sun; extremely well-drained, rocky or sandy soils; drought-tolerant; warm to cool subtropical conditions. One of the more heat-tolerant Chilean Puya.

• Largest Chilean Puya species; rosette to 2 m wide; flower scape to 4 m; yellow-green flowers
• Notoriously used as a bird trap small birds become impaled on fiercely recurved leaf spines
• Central Chile subtropical biome; named and described by Molina (1782), the genus’s author
• Subfamily Puyoideae; monocarpic; drought-tolerant; more heat-tolerant than many Chilean Puya
• Full sun; rocky well-drained soils; drought-tolerant; warm subtropical; Family Bromeliaceae

Puya chilensis is the Chilean giant puya one of the most architecturally dramatic bromeliads in cultivation, its immense spiny rosette, towering flower scape and notorious bird-trapping spines making it a botanical spectacle that has captivated naturalists since Molina’s original description in 1782.

IMPORTANT: Pictures show the adult plant, which is not for sale. The offer is only for seeds.