Puya are perennial, terrestrial herbs that remain green year-round, characterized by their leathery leaves, which often have spines and create compact rosettes. This genus is indigenous to Central and South America.

Puya

Puya aequatorialis

Puya aff. nitida

Puya alpestris is a perennial bromeliad that grows close to the ground, forming a dense clump approximately 60 cm in height. Its leaves are slender, arching, and dark green, featuring spines along the edges. During the summer, this plant produces tall, compact flower spikes that display a range of colors from metallic turquoise to nearly black, accented by orange anthers.

Puya alpestris

Puya alpestris subsp. zoellneri

Puya angelensis

Puya assurgens

Puya bicolor

Puya boliviensis

Puya castellanosii

Puya chilensis is a perennial plant that maintains its foliage year-round, forming compact clumps of rigid, lanceolate leaves. These leaves are dark green and have a tough, leathery texture, featuring prominent spines along their edges that curve inward toward the center of the rosette. When fully grown, a rosette can send up a robust flower stem that reaches up to 1.5 meters in height. This stem bears bell-shaped flowers in a yellow-green hue, interspersed with structures that serve as perches for birds. After flowering, the plant produces green fruit that houses winged seeds, and it completes its life cycle at this point, as it is monocarpic.

Puya chilensis

Puya coerulea is a perennial terrestrial bromeliad that can reach heights of up to 2 meters. It features robust stems that culminate in a broad rosette of slender, silvery leaves, which can grow as long as 60 centimeters and are edged with hooked spines. During the summer months, established specimens produce elongated, tubular flowers that are dark blue, arranged in upright spikes that can exceed 40 centimeters in height.

Puya coerulea

Puya coerulea var. coerulea

Puya coerulea var. monteroana

Puya coerulea var. violacea

Puya compacta

Puya dyckioides is a perennial bromeliad that develops rosettes of slender, serrated leaves, ranging from green to a greyish-green, often with a pinkish-red hue when exposed to sunlight. In the summer, established rosettes send up vertical flower spikes that can reach approximately 1 meter in height, showcasing dense groups of tubular blue flowers enveloped by pale pink bracts that transition to a vivid red as they mature.

Puya dyckioides

Puya dyckioides red-bracted

Puya ferruginea

Puya gilmartiniae

Puya grantii

Puya hamata

Puya harmsii

Puya hromadnikii

Puya humilis

Puya killipii

Puya lanata

Puya laxa is a terrestrial bromeliad that forms rosettes of elongated, rigid leaves featuring spiny edges and a coating of soft, grayish hairs. When mature, the rosettes generate upright, branching flower stems that are tinged with pink. These stems bear sparse, dark blue, bell-shaped blooms, each with calyces that also exhibit a pink hue.

Puya laxa

Puya lilloi

Puya lineata

Puya micrantha

Puya mirabilis is a bromeliad that forms open, evergreen rosettes composed of elongated, rigid, leathery leaves in shades of pale grey-green or bronzy-green, each leaf featuring finely serrated edges. When mature, the rosettes send up robust flower stalks that bear bell-shaped flowers approximately 10 cm in length, displaying a yellow-green hue. After flowering, these plants develop green fruits that contain winged seeds.

Puya mirabilis

Puya mitis

Puya ochroleuca

Puya raimondii

Puya retrorsa

Puya santosii

Puya spathacea

Puya trianae

Puya tuberosa

Puya venusta is a perennial bromeliad that produces clumps of rosettes consisting of slender, green to silvery-grey leaves, which feature sharp, inward-facing teeth along the edges. During the summer, mature specimens send up branching flower stalks from the center of the leaf rosette, showcasing clusters of three-petaled, tubular flowers in shades of blue-purple, accompanied by reddish-pink bracts.

Puya venusta

Puya weberbaueri

Puya weberiana

Puya x berteroniana Mez

Puya x ventnorensis

Puya yakespala is an evergreen, perennial bromeliad that produces a rosette of narrow, spiny leaves, which are greyish-green on the surface and have silvery-white undersides. During the summer, mature plants may produce tall, club-shaped spikes of vibrant yellow flowers that can reach heights of up to 2.4 meters from the center of the leaf rosettes.