A glimpse of Chilean plant life

 i was on a cruise along the coast of Chile last month. It was late summer and early Fall down there, not
exactly prime wildflower season, nor did I have much time on land. Nevertheless, as per my habit, I recorded whatever wildflowers I could find, and there were some very interesting ones. 

Chile is a long slender country. If you flipped it over onto the northern hemisphere, it would stretch from Alaska to Baja California, Mexico. So it has a wide range of climates and vegetation types. The southern tip is a stone's throw from the Antarctic peninsula, and the far north is barren desert. Our cruise focused on the fjords and glaciers of the southern third of the country. 

Glaciers and rugged mountains beyond counting line the Chilean coast.

The pictures that follow will speak for themselves. 

At our jumping off point in Ushuaia,
Argentina, planted flowers were at their
peak, giving hope that some wildflowers
would still be active.

Amidst the lichen-laden hrubby vegetation of the southern Chilean coast a lonely Chaura plant
(Gaultheria mucrunata) bears its crop of berries. Chaura is a relative of 
blueberries and cranberries.

At Punta Arenas, southernmost city in Chile,
yellow lupines (Lupinus arboreus), an invasive
species native to California, blooms throughout 
the short summer.

White daisies, possibly also from North America, also bloom
in Punta Arenas.

The native vegetation along the coast is dominated by Nothofagus antarctica, a relative of oak trees.

Fuschia magellanica, photographed here at the Rio Simpson Nature Preserve, is a common
sight in central Chile.

Gunnera tinctora is a curious plant with enormous leaves. Popular in
botanical gardens and landscapes in suitable climates, it is native
to southern Chile. Sometimes called Chilean rhubarb, because
its stems are used in the same way as a vegetable, it is unrelated
to the European rhubarb plant.

Because of its stiff, spiny-edged leaves,
Desfontainia spinosa is known as Chilean holly,
though it is in a completely different family, 
Columelliaceae. Note the lone orange and yellow
flower. 

Ferns are also common in the moist forests of southern Chile.

A touch of fall color comes to Chacabuco, Chile
in late March.

After disembarking our ship at Valparaiso, I was thrilled to spot the native Chilean Wine Palm,
Jubaea chilensis growing in large numbers on a dry hillside. I was able to snap some halfway decent pictures through the window of our moving bus.

In earlier times, sap was extracted from the palm trunks
and used for syrup and wine. The sap could be
extracted only by felling the tree, a wasteful process
that has been banned.