Clump of upright frailejones plants sprouting a rosette of pale yellow-green leaves atop a meters-tall stalk ringed by a thick hanging accumulation of dry brown rosette leaves from many past years. They stand in a steep ravine filled with great spreading clumps of tussock grass against a mostly cloudy sky with a patch of blue. Frailejones remind me of the Truffula trees in Dr Suess’ “The Lorax”.

Dominating the foreground is one upright frailejones plant sprouting a rosette of pale yellow-green leaves atop a meters-tall stalk ringed by a thick hanging accumulation of dry brown rosette leaves from many past years. Behind it stretches a hillside of other frailejones of various heights growing amidst clumps of grass.

A wide view of a hillside landscape dotted with frailejones plants of various heights, each plant sports a rosette of pale yellow-green leaves atop a tall stalk ringed by a thick hanging accumulation of dry brown rosette leaves from many past years.

Wide view of a frailejones-dominated hillside in a paramo landscape that seems to rise and disappear in low clouds. Each frailejones sports a rosette of pale yellow-green leaves atop a tall stalk ringed by a thick hanging accumulation of dry brown rosette leaves from many past years.

#Truffula tree forest? The wet #paramo of #Ecuador is the neotropical equivalent of alpine #tundra. Here at >3000m, #Espletia, a type of rosette-forming #sunflower, aka #frailejones, were abundant. Seemingly imagined by #DrSeuss, the landscape was astonishing & wonderfully weird in every direction.