The first time I ever saw a monument plant (aka green gentian) I said out loud, “What is that?!?” It was way taller than me and looked like nothing I’d ever seen before.
The monument plant/green gentian above was also taller than me and had gazillions of buds, with just a handful of open flowers. It turns out that, much like century plants (agave), monument plants send up a single blooming stalk, then die. You can see a photo showing how tall they are compared to mere humans by clicking here.
According to the piece I linked to above, a single stalk can have 600 flowers and generate up to 66,000 seeds. Yes, 66 thousand seeds. Which, considering all the pollination I saw occurring on this one plant last week, is actually not that surprising.
The yellow and orange bees above were this particular plant’s most noticeable pollinators. When I looked a little more closely though, I saw other potential pollinators, not to mention an additional method of reproduction. More to come.