Bloom-ing heck! Rare and exotic plant brought to Britain more than 20 years ago ... trends now
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A rare and exotic plant taken from the Chilean Andes more than 20 years ago has flowered for the first time in Birmingham.
The alien-looking Puya alpestris plant, which can take 10 years to flower, arrived at Birmingham Botanical Gardens two decades ago.
The specimen is a bromeliad, distantly related to the pineapple, that relies on hummingbirds to ensure its survival in the wild.
But in the Victorian glasshouse in Birmingham - 7,000 miles from Chile - horticulturalists are in a race against time to pollinate the plant themselves using a small paintbrush.
The plant, which is also known as the sapphire tower due to its spectacularly coloured flowering spikes, is native to the mountainous regions of central and southern Chile, at elevations of up to 7,200ft.
The rare and exotic plant taken from the Chilean Andes more than 20 years ago has flowered for the first time in Birmingham
Alberto Trinco (pictured), senior glasshouse horticulturalist, is part of the team in a race against time to pollinate the plant themselves using a small paintbrush due to there being no hummingbirds in the greenhouse
