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Puya raimondii.. (Queen of the Andes.) The largest and most impressive of the bromeliad species, Puya raimondii is native to the barren highlands of the Andes of Bolivia and Peru, where it can be found between 3,200 and 4,800 meters. It forms a giant rosette of broad, stiff leaves on a robust plant. Its extraordinary spikes (flowers) appear after 80 years of vegetative growth , and is relatively well adapted to warm-temperate climates, without extremes of heat and cold.