Neuquen and Mendoza, Argentina

[Kees Jan]

I'm attaching some pics of the first excursion of a botanical tour to the Argentinian provinces Neuquen and Mendoza earlier this month. The tour was organised by Ger van den Beuken, Marcela Ferrera was our botanical guide.

South America is home to some wonderful grasses. Here are Stipa neaei and Stipa humilis. The cactus is probably Pterocactus australis, a very small species. The pink-flowering plant is Pleurophora patagonica, a natural bonsai in this particular case, but normally a mat-forming plant. All these pics are from Laguna Blanca NP, Neuquen.

[Brian Ellis]

Very interesting to see, presumably it is so windy it has caused the Pleurophora patagonica to be bonsai?

[Kees Jan]

It could be the wind, but I'm not quite sure what happened there. Here are two species in Verbenaceae, again photographed near Laguna Blanca (Neuquen Province, northern Patagonia): Junellia micrantha (first two pics) and Junellia succulentifolia.

[fermides]

Very interesting to see, presumably it is so windy it has caused the Pleurophora patagonica to be bonsai?

I thought it looked like a very intriguing Ikebana arrangement!
Looking forwards to more pics, Kees!
cheers
fermi

[Kees Jan]

Like quite a few other Patagonian plants, including several rosulate Viola species of the 'volcanica' group, the rare Pterocactus araucanus has the same colour as the volcanic sand it grows in.... There must be an evolutionary reason of some sort.

[Ezeiza]

Kees, I imagine everyone have GPS readings for these species' locations.

[Martin Tversted]

Thanks for sharing photos. Nice to see some southern cacti in habitat. I grow various Austrocactus, Maihuenia, Maihueniopsis and Pterocactus from Neuquen and Mendoza in the unheated greenhouse here in Denmark. Too few people know them among alpine plants growers.

Martin

[Kees Jan]

Alberto,

I hope not... GPS data are not visible on my pics as far as I know, I just checked the EXIF info....

KJ

[Ezeiza]

Thanks, Kees.

[Kees Jan]

Here are some nice plants, photographed on our second day in the field in Neuquen province:

Alstroemeria aurea
Araucaria araucana
Perezia recurvata
Senecio aff. triodon

I'm uploading the final pics of our second day in the field to my Neuquen Province gallery, which is found at www.keesjan.smugmug.com under 'Botanical Trips', 'North and South America'. Any corrections can easily be made using the comment button on my website and would be much appreciated.

[Gerdk]

Thank you, Kees Jan - enjoyed your pics a lot and I am hoping for more!

Gerd

[Kees Jan]

Here are some more. First two Apiaceae: Mulinum leptacanthum (note the winged fruits, a feature of Mulinum) and the unusual Azorella ameghinoi.

Montiopsis umbellata
Montiopsis gayana (probably)
Rhodophiala mendocina
Viola columnaris

[Kees Jan]

Here is Perezia pilifera in a rather unusual colour form. P. pilifera is one of the most beautiful Perezia's...

[Lesley Cox]

Well it's certainly an unusual colour form on my screen which has now gone permanently yellow. It was intermittant until the last day or two. I'll have to bite the bullet and get another screen. Roger thinks he can find a second hand one to do the trick.

[Maggi Young]

It is a particularly nice creamy yellow on my screen too!   Very pretty plant.