6.1.2. Botanical Aspects

*B. antiacantha* has stem with rhizomes about 1 m in length from which adventitious roots emerge. Rhizomes are covered by leaves and are responsible for the survival of the species under di fferent climatic conditions. Leaves exhibit alternate and spiral phyllotaxis with 80 to 185 cm in length, arranged in non petiolated rosette without the cistern formation, with lanceolate and caniculate limb shape and aculeate limb margin [183,188].

Flowering is annual and occurs between the months of December and February. From the center of leaves, monopodial inflorescence emerges, which is composed of 150 to 350 meliophilous, ornithophilous and pedunculated flowers with oval sepals, entire margin of the sepal, oblong petal purple in color. During the flowering period, central leaves and bracts show intense red color. Fruits are polyspermic, fleshy, gaba type, yellow when ripe, with approximately 2 cm in diameter, pleasant odor, and edible pulp. Seeds are photoblastic, that is, they need sunlight to germinate, present 26% of moisture, with high germination rate at temperatures between 25 ◦C and 35 ◦C [78,183,191,192].
