Decades-old palm trees in Rio de Janeiro flower for the first – and only – time

Talipot palm trees, native to India and Sri Lanka, are in bloom in Aterro do Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro (Lucas Dumphreys/AP)

Towering talipot palms in a Rio de Janeiro park are flowering for the first and only time in their lives, decades after famed Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx introduced them in the 1960s.

Towards the end of its life – which can span between 40 and 80 years – the palm tree sends up a central plume crowded with millions of small, creamy-white blossoms that rise high above its fan-shaped leaves.