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Senior Glasshouse Horticulturist Alberto Trinco alongside a rare Sapphire Tower (Puya alpestris) in bloom in the Arid Glasshouse at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. The plant, which is native to the Chilean Andes and is a distant relation to the pineapple, takes up to a decade to come to flower, before dying after a few days. It has been housed in the gardens for more than 20 years. Alberto uses a small paintbrush to collect the nectar-rich pollen to ensure its survival, a task normally carried out in the wild by Hummingbirds. Picture date: Wednesday April 17, 2024.
DC