Central Patagonia - November 2017

[Ross McLeod]

Extraordinary pics. Looks to be a botanical wunderkammer.

[Jan Tholhuijsen]

Thanks Richard for the pictures, they are beautiful  I follow your articles with admiration.

[Richard Green]

I am glad that you are enjoying these Jan and Ross.  Here are some more pictures from today for you.  I have updated yesterday's post with the correct names as I have now confirmed these.

Today we took the ski cabin and chairlift to the top of Cerro Catedral at just over 2000m high.  This is the easy way to botanise, and reminds me of holidays to the Alps and Dolomites.  There was even an open Refugio at the top serving food and drink, with sun loungers populated by holiday makers from Barioche.  However, we were there early and avoided the crowds and saw the following:

Oxalis adenophylla is a very showy plant with striking flowers poking through the scree, we were a bit early as there were many plants without flowers although there were leaves just coming through the scree.


Oxalis erythrohiza (right) and Oreopolus glacialis (left) the former very specifically growing on the top of the exposed ridge, but interestingly the latter is seen growing in sand on the steppe 2000m below.


Ranunculus semiverticillatus was growing in in scree just after snowmelt.  It has large flowers around 50mm in diameter.


Ourisia fragrans was growing in sheltered places under boulders in the shade looking like a Primula, although it is in the Plantaginaceae family.  It is sweetly smelling as its name suggests.


Viola columnaris was the second rosulate viola found, and shows why it earned its specific name.

[Steve Garvie]

Thanks for posting Richard.
The images are superb and it’s great to see the natural character of these plants.

[Richard Green]

Here are some more plants from today.  We went back out to the steppe specifically to look for a rosulate viola, but we found much more.

Chlorea magellanica is a difficult orchid to spot, being a green colour, but it is beautiful when looked at close up with greenish lines on the petals.  We have seen hybrids between this species and the orange C. alpina on earlier days.


Tropaeolum incisum has spreading leaf stems with silvery leaves, and flowers in a selection of yellow and orange shades.  This was the first time we have seen flowers.


Junellia caespitosa formed eyecatching mounds on the steppe, and is a very hard and spiky plant.


Viola escondidaensis is a rare and only recently discovered and described rosulate viola, although an intermediate, having leaves and no obvious rosette.


And the habitat for this viola is pure sand dunes, so how they gain an initial foothold is a mystery.  They must have long roots to suck up whatever water is available.

[Richard Green]

We stayed close to Bariloche today and took the minibus up one of the worst gravel roads we have been on so far.  In fact we drove way past the sign which said "Only 4x4 wheel drive vehicles beyond this point".  We then walked up through Nothofagus forest to the viewpoint, and it proved a good day as we saw many interesting plants.

View at the top, the lemon yellow patches are Oreopolus glacialis, with darker yellow Calceolaria in the background, and cream flowers of Anemone multifida in upright bunches in centre foreground and elsewhere.


Nassauvia glomerata was a prostrate plant with white flowers.


I know it's not a plant, but still worth showing is a Magellanic Woodpecker seen in the Nothofagus pumilio forest on the way up.


Chloraea cylindrostachya was seen on the way up and is a robust orchid standing much taller than other orchids.


And of course many more of the rosulate Viola columnaris, with splendid rosettes, and flowers in a variety of colours from pale to dark purple.

[Richard Green]

We took a trip today on Lago Nahuel Huapi to the furthest point west in the rainforest under the Andes.  Many similar plants were seen as on our previous rainforest trip a couple of days ago, but the photos will give a flavour of what it is like to be in this environment:

Large trees of Nothofagus dombeyi in the forest clinging to the sides of the steep slopes, and streams of snow meltwater cascading down the sides into the Lago:


Inside the rainforest showing the large amount of dead wood which lays rotting where it has fallen, which will fertilise and renew the forest eventually.


Codonorchis lessonii is a little three pointed orchid of the forest floor, and this was a group of around 20 individual plants.  See my previous post for a closeup picture.


A composite photo of a large Alcerce tree Fitzroya cupressioides showing the axe marks of the slot chopped by logging crews at the base.  They stopped chopping when they discovered that the tree had a rotton core, and they didn't bother to fell it, instead preferring solid trees containing all good timber.  Note how the tree is healing after over 100 years, and that the cuts are as clean now as when originally made.  The cypress tree contains oils which inhibit insect and fungal attack, and for this reason the wood was used to make roofing tiles:

[Ian Y]

Wonderful forest quite a contrast in habitat to the high exposed type of your previous post.

[Richard Green]

Yes Ian, and we are seeing a wide range of species from all types of habitat.  Here are some more from today's trip between Bariloche and St Martin de Los Andes.

Mutisias are such an endearing climber with daisy flowers.  Here is a pink Mutisia spinosa, although we have also seen paler versions.


I couldn't resist putting in a cactus, this is Austrocactus coxii, and the flower colour us real and untouched, grading from a deep orange on the outside to firey yellow in the centre.


Oxalis adenophylla can be a woodland plant, here are some growing under the shade of Nothofagus trees, and not in their usual scree habitat.


Trick picture!  Count how many Viola volcanica you can see in this picture.  The answer can be found at the bottom of this post!


Three rosettes of Viola volcanica, which we found in several different sites from the very outskirts of Bariloche northwards.


Oh yes, and how many Viola volcanica could you find above?  The answer is seven - the rosettes are exactly the same colour as the sand they are growing in.

[Chris Johnson]

A great tour Richard - I particularly like the violas.

[Richard Green]

Good to hear from you Chris, thanks for your appreciation which helps me continue with posting after what are turning out to be a series of quite tiring days in the field.  Anyone who thinks these trips are a relaxing holiday is wrong!  However, there are more violas coming up - please read on.

Sorry guys and lassies, I couldn't do my daily post as the top floor router in our hotel was down last night.  Here are some highlights from our trip to the ski centre of Chapelco, near St Martin de Los Andes where we are staying.

Tristagma nahuelhuapinum (if I have typed it correctly) is named after Lago Nahuel Huapi.  This is a real beauty of the consolidated grassy places below and around the ski runs.


The nice little double buttercup, Ranunculus penducularis on the ski slopes.


OK, here comes the Viola, this time Viola dasyphylla, this is an excellent clump with creamy flowers and small blue lines on the petals.


And a closeup of another plant with more blue pencil lines on the petals.  There is considerable variation in this population, there are plain flowers with no lines, and some with a more creamy, and others with a more whitish background.


We did see one solitary Rhodophiala andicola, just starting to come out in bloom in an area just off the main ski runs.  I am sure there will be more opportunities to see this glorious plant tomorrow when we move to a different location.


Of course we did see all of what are becoming the usual suspects, like Oxalis adenophylla and Ranunculus semiverticillatus.  As you move north the spring is earlier and warmer than the south.  The Ranunculus are starting to go over and we are beginning to find fading flowers and larger more developed leaves than further south.  There are also many other species not featured so far, like a selection of Nassauvias with white flowers and often spiky leaves, and then we have not even mentioned the fine differences between the various species of Southern Beeches in the genus Nothofagus!

[angie]

Richard thanks for the pictures. Just helps cheer up a miserable cold day .

Maggi is that the plant  (  Mutisia spinosa ) that you grow on your wall. I remember the name but not sure if it’s the same plant.

Angie 

[Ross McLeod]

I too am enjoying this travelogue immensely. Extraordinary part of the world.

[Richard Green]

Hi Angie, I shall certainly not look forward to coming back to Scotland as it is in the 20s here and I have my hotel window open at after midnight as it is too hot to go to bed yet!

Ross, I am glad you are enjoying the pics.  Everything is so different from the plants in Scotland, but this trip has made me very aware of the debt owed to past plant hunters who have enriched our European gardens (and presumably your antipodean gardens too) with many plants which we have seen, such as Embothrium coccineum, Buddleja globosa, Gaultheria mucronata, Fuchsia magellanica, two Gunneras  and others.  It has also highlighted the reverse trade, where both Broom and Lupins as well as various thistles and others are now weeds here.

We are now still further north in Junin de Los Andes, and trekked over 700m up Cerro Colorado today, a nearby mountain with the top covered by volcanic debris.  We found the following plants amongst a very rich flora.

Ourisia fragrans, this is a white form of the plant we saw as a pale pink form on Cerro Catedral a few days ago. 


A habitat shot of Ourisia fragrans.  It is still growing in the same situation as on Cerro Catedral, at the base of large rocks in the shade and presumably where it collects a little moisture than growing in the open.


Viola dasyphylla was here as on Chapelco yesterday, and the plants were just as variable in different shades of white and cream, both with and without degrees of blue veining in the petals.


Rhodophiala araucana is very like R. mendocina (see my earlier post), however it is summer growing and flowers whilst the leaves are still green unlike the winter-growing R. mendocina.


We were pleased to see quite a number of Rhodophiala andicola flowering at the start of their blooming period.  This area will be a sea of purple in a week or two's time.

[Maggi Young]

Richard thanks for the pictures. Just helps cheer up a miserable cold day .

Maggi is that the plant  (  Mutisia spinosa ) that you grow on your wall. I remember the name but not sure if it’s the same plant.

Angie 

  It's  very similar, Angela, to our plant - we've always called is a Mutisia oligodon hybrid, but we think M. sonosa is   involved.