Flora of Chile - Southern Chile

Southern Chile

One of the most striking forest trees is the pehuén or Chilean pine (Araucaria araucana), which often grows to a height of 100 ft. and is prized by the natives for its fruit. Three native species of the genus Nothofagus: the roble (Nothofagus obliqua), coihue (Nothofagus dombeyi), and raulí (Nothofagus alpina)--are widely diffused and highly prized for their wood, especially the first, which is misleadingly called roble (oak).

Chile's thickest forest are found between the Bío-Bío River and the Taitao Peninsula. Among those trees are the alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides), the ciprés de las Guaitecas (Pilgerodendron uviferum), the Chilean cypress (Austrocedrus chilensis), lingue (Persea lingue), laurel (Laurelia sempervirens), avellano (Gevuina avellana), luma (Luma apiculata), and many others.

In the southern zone there are no plains, with the exception of small areas near the Strait of Magellan, and the forests are universal. In the variety, size and density of their growth these forests remind one of the tropics. They are made up, in great part, of the evergreen beech (Nothofagus betuloides), the deciduous antarctic beech (Nothofagus antarctica) and Winter's bark (Drimys winteri), intermingled with a dense undergrowth composed of a great variety of shrubs and plants, among which are Maytenus magellanica, Gaultheria mucronata, Berberis buxifolia, wild currant (Ribes magellanicum), a trailing blackberry, tree ferns, reed-like grasses and innumerable parasites (including species of the genus Misodendron). On the eastern side of the Cordillera, in the extreme south, the climate is drier and open, and grassy plains are found, but on the western side the dripping forests extend from an altitude of 1000 to 1500 ft. down to the level of the sea. A peculiar vegetable product of this inclement region is a small globular fungus growing on the bark of the beech, which is a staple article of food among the Fuegians—probably the only instance where a fungus is the bread of a people.