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

A rare bloom of Talipot palm trees, native to India and Sri Lanka, is captivating Rio de Janeiro. These trees, brought to Brazil in the 1960s by landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx, bloom once in their lifetime, taking 30-80 years to do so before dying. Currently, two out of three Talipot trees at Rio's Botanical Garden are in bloom. The last bloom occurred in 2010. Environmental conditions affect their maturation, and new seedlings arise from the base after the trees die.