It is a plant that only grows in isolated regions with stony soil and very little humus.
The Puya Raimondi is found on the high parts of the Bolivian and Peruvian high plateau, mostly in cold-wind areas.
It belongs to the bromeliad family, and is a real natural rarity; its stem takes up two thirds of the plant's height, the other third being taken up by the central nucleus from which hang its long, sharp-pointed leaves.
This plant lives around 100 years, and flowers only during about one year of its final stage of growth. Once it flowers, the plant uses up all its energy accumulated over a century, shriveling up later in a process of self-combustion.
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