Once-in-a-lifetime bloom: rare palms in Rio de Janeiro flower before dying

A drone view of the Talipot palm trees blooming for the first time in about 50 years at the Aterro do Flamengo park in Rio de Janeiro. — Photos: Reuters

A golden cascade of Talipot (Corypha umbraculifera) tree blossoms has captivated Rio de Janeiro in Brazil as spring draws to a close, marking the first and last bloom of these palm trees decades after they were brought from South Asia by renowned landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx.

Native to India and Sri Lanka, the palm tree arrived in Brazil in the 1960s as Burle Marx was constructing the park of Aterro do Flamengo, where several of the trees were planted. Some of the trees also ended up at Rio’s Botanical Garden.

The Talipot can exceed 20m in height, and takes between 30 and 80 years to bloom. About a year after flowering, the plant dies naturally, said Thais Hidalgo, the head of curatorship of the living collection at the Botanical Garden.

“This palm tree invests all its energy in this single re­­productive cycle to produce ­thousands of fruits,” she said.

“After that, its leaves dry up.”

A woman taking a selfie with the Talipot, which flowers only once in its lifetime.

There are three Talipot units in the Botanical Garden, but only two are in bloom. The other was planted just a year ago, so it will be a while before the phenomenon occurs again. The last flowering of a Talipot there was in 2010.

According to Hidalgo, the group of palm trees at Flamengo Park is larger, but not all of them are flowering. Environmental conditions can affect the plant’s maturation, she added.

The death of the palm tree, however, is not really the end. At the Botanical Garden, Talipot trees are cut at the base and give rise to new seedlings. – Reuters

*The late Roberto Burle Marx also designed Malaysia’s own KLCC Park.