Chile - December 2009

[Tony Willis]

Hans

I may have missed it in the posting but at what time of year were you there. When I was there in January the Echinops chiloensis appeared to be in flower but were in fact covered in a type of scarlet mistletoe,I wonder did you see this?

[Hans A.]

Thanks Fred, Luc and Gerd!

Tony, I was in Chile during the first three weeks in december. At this trip I have seen only very few cacti (the shot of Echinops chiloensis was taken from the bus) - so I was not able to see the beautiful mistletoe (Tristerix aphyllus) which grows on this Echinops - a similar species (Tristerix verticillatus) I have seen on the way to Laguna de Maule in 2008 : http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=1573.0

Here some more plant pictures near the seaside of the 8th Region
VIII - Libertia kl.jpg
VIII - Lobelia tupa + Eryngium paniculatum -kl.jpg
VIII - Alstromeria hookeri -kl.jpg
VIII - Chlorea crispa - kl.jpg

[Tony Willis]

Hans interesting I did not see the other species on the way to Maule.

That Chlorea crispa is stunning,I wish I had seen that !

[BULBISSIME]

Wonderfull orchid Hans !!

[Hristo]

Great tour thanks Hans, how fantastic to see Alstroemeria and Chloraea in the wild!

[Hans A.]

Tony - Trysterix verticillatus flowered in march on the way to Maule - if it had not flowered at that time I also would not have seen it.

Here another pic of Chlorea crispa - normally they were about 80cm but I found one which was about 140 cm high.
Gunnera tinctoria is sometimes offered at the road - not bad with salt and merkčn. I have told not all Gunnera tinctorias have the same good taste.
Liolaemus tenuis was a very quick photo motif - it was much more difficult to take a good pic of it than of most plants ;o)

[arillady]

Why would a lizard be half yellow and half blue - cannot think of it as camouflage (had to look up the spelling of this last word - any wordsmiths to tell me its origins ( half German??))
Looks as though it would be pretty fast.

[Maggi Young]

camouflage (had to look up the spelling of this last word - any wordsmiths to tell me its origins ( half German??))

My dick and harry says.....
1917, from French: camoufler, Parisian slang, "to disguise," from Italian camuffare "to disguise," probably alt. by Fr. camouflet "puff of smoke," on the notion of "blow smoke in someone's face."

[arillady]

Thanks Maggie.

[Stephenb]

Gunnera tinctoria is sometimes offered at the road - not bad with salt and merkčn. I have told not all Gunnera tinctorias have the same good taste.

Thanks for these pictures. I was at a conference in Concepcion a few years back (just before the beginning of the digital era, hence all my pictures are on slides), and recognised some of the places (that bridge, for example). I went afterwards to Chiloe Island and I asked  a guide in the national park to demonstrate how they ate the Gunnera (which I had seen in markets). I was impressed by the pleasant mild taste. Do you know how they tell good tasting from bad tasting plants? ( I presume they are collected from the wild).

[Gerdk]

During my time at the Wuppertal Botanic Garden a Gunnera tinctoria was cutted back and a visitor asked me if I would allow him to keep some of these ' giant rhubarbs ' with him for a meal.
I replied that this was ok but it would be better to ask my chief (Erich Pasche) if he agree.
Erich Pasche told him that it might be possible that this  ' rhubarb ' wasn't quite correct for the kitchen.

How wrong he was!   

Gerd

[Stephenb]

 

Also in Chile they make this mistake. I asked another local person on Chiloe Island about how they used this plant and he told me that they make a jam with it. He wrote the name for me and sent me to a market. it turned out to be Rhubarb jam....

[Hans A.]

Sorry Stephen I do not know how the good tasting Gunneras differentiate from the less good tasting - but I think there was allways the doubt about the nomenclature of the large chilenean Gunneras - there exist regional differences between the populartions (specially the form of leaves as I could observe).

Here some more pics of the 8. th Region - the flower of this Loasa was enormous and very beautiful - Id highly appreciated. And no, I did not try if the urticating hairs of this species have the same or worse  effect than Urtica. 

Acaena spec.
Herbertia lahue
Loasa spec.
Jovellana punctata

[Hans A.]

Some more pics:
Acanthinodera cummingi - now I have the doubt if the beetle is very large or my wifes hands small
Two native, well known shrubs in Britain: Fuchsia magellanica and Drymis winterii

[Gerdk]

Hans,
Beautiful and interesting pics (except the horror beatle  ) -
according its leaves the Loasa seems to be similar to Loasa tricolor .

Gerd