- Feb 5, 2002
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At the Birmingham Botanical Gardens (BBG), a plant that most people will never see flower has sprouted its azure blooms for the first time in over 10 years.
This incredibly rare event has turned the plant, a bromeliad called Puya alpestris into a “sapphire tower.”
Native to the Chilean Andes at altitudes above 6,000 feet, P. alpestris is a distant relative of the pineapple. Brought to the Arid Glasshouse at the BBG almost 20 years ago, this is the first time the plant has flowered.
It isn’t an endangered species, but the flowering of the specimen at the BBG is allowing botanists to hand-pollinate other members by gently tapping the stamens with a paintbrush.
In the wild, the plant relies on hummingbirds to pollinate it, who come to feast on the sapphire tower’s nectar-rich flowers.
Continued below.
www.goodnewsnetwork.org
This incredibly rare event has turned the plant, a bromeliad called Puya alpestris into a “sapphire tower.”
Native to the Chilean Andes at altitudes above 6,000 feet, P. alpestris is a distant relative of the pineapple. Brought to the Arid Glasshouse at the BBG almost 20 years ago, this is the first time the plant has flowered.
It isn’t an endangered species, but the flowering of the specimen at the BBG is allowing botanists to hand-pollinate other members by gently tapping the stamens with a paintbrush.
In the wild, the plant relies on hummingbirds to pollinate it, who come to feast on the sapphire tower’s nectar-rich flowers.
Continued below.
Hand Pollination of ‘Sapphire Tower’ Helps Rare Plant Survive–Only Blooming Every 20 Years
The flowering of the specimen at the botanical gardens is allowing botanists to hand-pollinate other members with a paintbrush
www.goodnewsnetwork.org