I remember the first time I saw the flaylejon: we were trecking through el Páramo Igaque, named after the indigenous Muisca group that lived near there, and it was very cloudy. The altitude kept getting higher, and after a few miles, I was tired and winded! My friends continued ahead of me, and at one point I was strolling along alone through the cloudy páramo. I stopped to take a sip of water, and noticed a glimpse of yellow popping through the cloud. At first I thought it was bird nesting in a cactus, but alas! I had met my first fraylejon.
The plants live at high altitude in páramo ecosystems. Páramos are environments that are tropical, or near the equator, and tend to be near mountain areas and lagoons.
The fraylejon does well adapting to a challenging, changing environment, and helps us adapt too! The big, green leaves are called marcescent leaves, and help protect the plants from the windy cold that often blows through the páramo. Also, the fraylejon is well known for contributing to the world in water sustainability!
One of its amazing, evolutionary traits is its abilty to capture water vapor from passing clouds in its spongy trunk. Then, the fraylejon releases the water through the roots into the soil. Finally, this helps to create vast, high-altitude subterranean water deposits and lakes that will eventually form rivers that we can get our water from.
