I left off the last plant segment, clear back in Peru, with this, the deflated “birdie”.
This is an Altiplano cactus that grew at elevations over 14,000 feet.Very pretty, “digital” snake that was hit on the highway.
More Solanaceae.
6-legged spider on the tent fly.
Quenual above (paper bark tree) and above that, one that looks very similar from a distance but quite different up close. The two often grow together.Vetch of some kind.
Taraxacum reappeared soon after descending the last time off the Altiplano and has been with me since.These (above & below) were a sort of tiger lilly growing in roadside gravels.
Pea family and mesquite-like.More trippy cactus above and below. Grades from the 14,000 foot Altiplano would drop over 8,000 feet to desert climates, cross a river, and then the begin climbing again.
Peruvean lupine.
Townsendia- like. Once again at over 14,000 feet.
Looks Claytonia megarhiza-like
These got fairly big, much like Hymenoxys grandiflora.
This thing was the only one of its kind (above and next two below) so I suspect it was planted by someone.
Pine, probably introduced, and Eucalyptus.Pine was 3-needled.VetchMore of the alpine cactus. Nasty to navigate around.Once again, akin to reindeer lichen.No clue here. Hi in Peru but looks like it should be underwater in ocean surf. Stromatolites!Lichens
Cactus within a grass that could be Sporobolus.Eucalyptus
This was growing at over 17,000 feet and looked like sky pilot.
More FabaceaeMany grasses.This thing was pretty much the high point of Bolivia, but was an incredible cactus. I found a colony of them on a hillside out in the middle of nowhere.
Somewhere in here I dropped off of the Altiplano and into a more desert climate and topography.
Erodium
Lots of non-descript shrubs.
Argentine saguaro.
This thing had quite an odd shaped pedal till a I realized it was being eaten by something.Yellow version of prickly poppy.
I saw this clear back in Oaxaca but it reappears here at a comparable latitude and elevation.
A legume that without flowers looks like ephedra (below).
Creosote. This looks virtually like the Mojave species Larrea tridentata but here goes by L. cuneifolia. The “lumpers” say they’re the same while the “splitters” have more than one species on each continent. The smell, which is distinctive, is the same.More cactus than I’ll ever learn.
I’m sorry I didn’t get more and better photos of this. Very different cactus.
I can’t find if they separate their saguaro species from Trichocereus (or Echinopsus) terscheckii, but this one, found further south, had a few differences from it’s northern counterpart. It had a very showy flower (below).
Very phlox-like
The ephedra-pea again.This is again some kind of mesquite. The thorns are 2.5 inches long.Oenothera and token dandelion .Tamarisk doesn’t invade the way it does in the Southwest, but it’s definitely here.
Sphaeralcea?S. America is where both tomatos and potatos (Solanaceae) originate so there are many species.Mesquite-like shrub.
Armadillo for the second time. (Too cool not to show it twice).Mimulus?
Some kind of tussock grass.
The next bunch were taken as I was passing about 40 degrees south, which is about what northern Utah is. Many familiar invasives are found where elevation and climate are similar. Both Melilotuses are here and a few others I didn’t photograph.
Rumex!Hound’s tongue.Bindweed. Not a very good picture, but it doesn’t need to be- everybody knows this this one.The brown grass I think is B. tectorumMulinum spinosum
Penstamon of some kind.
Above and below are of what I’m guessing is a chenopode and possibly an atriplex not unlike our shadscales and four-wing salt bush.
The star thistle mentioned in the blog already.This and below looks like an invasive as they will dominate road shoulders. Very showy invasive, though. Here I’m entering “green” mountains again north of Bariloche.
Lupine that again is probably an invasive.Lot of Cirsium. Not sure on species.Rose. Could be woodii.
Oenothera?Might be Sisymbrium altissimumPenstamon.Embothrium coccineum, or Chilean firetree, is a spring bloom that gives forested slopes the look of first autumn reds.Queen Anne’s lace, I think.Oenathera
Chloephaga melanoptera or Andean goose.Below, closeup of above.
Erodiium
The plants below are all in Patagonian mountains near El Chaltén.
Looks like Pachystima. Same habitat.There are a few different violas.Beech forest. There are a few species of Nothafagus. Two that are common here are antarcticus (above, I think) and betuloides, below, which means “birchlike”.
Caryophyllaceae.Wintergreen, Gaultheria pumila.If it were N. America this would be a Sisyrinchium species but here goes by Cordonorchis lessonii.Sisyrinchium arenarium.Anemone multifida.Euphorbia collina.Adesmia boronioides. The leaves of this plant look somewhat like our fernbush, Chamaebatiaria millifolium, but Adesmia is in the pea family and fernbush is rose family. What’s amazing is that they have the same pungent, not unpleasant, smell. Here, they say this Adesmia produces an “essential oil”. What were the circumstances of evolution that the two plants would concoct the same chemicals for their smell?Phacelia or Penstamon?Ranunculus.More stromatolites.
Above: Oxalis aderophila.
Erigeron.Don’t see a lot of sedge, but there are a few.
Looks like good old dandelion…..…….but has a wiry stem.
Andean goose and goslings near Chaltén.Cougar shit. Yes, they’re here!Seeds from an Osmorhiza species that could be the same as that found in N. America. We’ve all had to extract these things from our animals after a walk in the Bear River Range.
These plants are more in the alpine.
Adesmia salicornioides.
Above: Azorella spp.
Calceolaria biflora.
Above: Empetrum rubrum, or what N. Americans would call Crow berry.
Swertia?Well, if you made it to here you get a prize. This is Calceolaria uniflora, one of the incredible plants of Patagonian alpine. Looks like an orchid but was strangely classified as a Scroph when I was here in 2007. Now it, and C. biflora, a few photos above, are in their own family, Calceolareae. I remembered it being a good 3 or 4 inches long and was surprised that in reality it is barely an inch. They’ve recently found out that it is pollinated by a seedsnipe, a small bird. The white “tray” is high in sugars and as the bird pecks at it, rubs pollen onto its head from two stamens at the top of the plant.
2 thoughts on “Plants & Animals, Peru to Argentina”
What a botanical lesson Steve. It is fascinating to see the similarities and differences of plant species in North and South America at similar elevation and terrain. And to have you interpret them for us!! Thank you!
Good to hear from you, best to you!
I really enjoy the posts about the plants in the different areas you visit. It fascinates me to see plants I’ve never dreamed of, and then to see some so similar to ones here at home.
What a botanical lesson Steve. It is fascinating to see the similarities and differences of plant species in North and South America at similar elevation and terrain. And to have you interpret them for us!! Thank you!
Good to hear from you, best to you!
I really enjoy the posts about the plants in the different areas you visit. It fascinates me to see plants I’ve never dreamed of, and then to see some so similar to ones here at home.