39 



The Flora of the Desert of Atacama. 



By Thos. Morong. 



Under the old geographical limits, before Chile had appropri- 

 ated as a war indemnity the whole of Bolivia's seacoast and three 

 degrees of Peruvian soil, the desert of Atacama was figured as 

 extending from Coquimbo on the south to Bolivia on the north 

 and eastward from the Pacific Ocean to the Andes, being nearly 

 coincident with the province of the same name in Chile, So far, 

 however, as the natural features are concerned, the name might 

 well be applied to the entire region lying between Valparaiso and 

 Ecquador, for it is all a desert broken only by lofty mountain 

 peaks and deep valleys, the beds of ancient rivers, and watered 

 here and there by scanty streams derived from the melting of the 

 snows upon the high Cordilleras. The water from this source is 

 carefully husbanded by the inhabitants of the valleys, and used 

 in irrigation for agricultural purposes. Very little of it goes to 

 produce the flora referred to in this article, by far the greater part 

 of which belongs exclusively to the desert proper. 



It seems like a contradiction in terms to speak of a desert 

 vegetation, and especially one upon a territory so bleak and deso- 

 late as the Atacama, which is distinguished by the number of its 

 hideously barren hills of rock and its sandy wastes. And yet 

 this desert bears a flora quite extensive in the number of its species 

 and very peculiar and interesting in its character. Over 500 

 species of plants have been gathered within its borders, and 

 probably as many more might be detected upon a close research. 

 One naturally wonders by what chance such a flora can be 

 brought into existence and how it can live after being once 

 started. In explanation it must be said that this region is not 

 absolutely rainless, although it is nearly so. There is an occasional 

 winter rain, or rarely two or three showers in the course of a 

 winter, occurring at long intervals. Generally such rains are 

 barely enough to moisten the ground, but that little is sufficient to 

 cause the seeds, which are lying dormant in the sand or the bulbs 

 beneath the ground, to germinate. Once up the seedling is kept 

 alive by the dews which fall nightly upon the earth, and by the 



