366 OUTLINE OF PLANT GEOGRAPHY 



at the edge of the forest are many shrubs and herbaceous plants 

 of great beauty. Of the shrubs, the handsome Sophora tetraptera, 

 with yellow pea-flowers is noteworthy, as the same species is wide- 

 spread in New Zealand and also occurs in Lord Howe Island. 

 Alstroemeria aurantiaca, sl showy lily sometimes seen in cultiva- 

 tion, a raspberry (Rubus ulmifolius), sl violet, an orchid (Pogonia 

 tetraphylla.). Calceolaria, Sisyrinchium, and Calandrinia are some 

 of these flowers of the more open areas. Libertia, a liliaceous 

 genus also found in Australasia, may also be cited. 



Ascending the mountains east of Valdivia, the rain-forest is 

 replaced by one in which coniferous trees are more prominent. 

 One of the most important commercially is the "Alerce" (Fit?- 

 roya Patagonica) whose timber is highly esteemed and which has 

 been pretty well exterminated in many places. Several other 

 coniferous genera occur, viz., Saxegothaea, Podocarpus, Liboce- 

 drus, the latter the only genus occurring in the United States. 

 Of the lower shrubs, a species of Gaultheria recalls the "salal" 

 of the Pacific coast, and the little wintergreen of Atlantic North 

 America. 



Among the most remarkable of the Chilean plants is Gunnera 

 Chilcnsis, sometimes seen in cultivation. It suggests a gigantic 

 rhubarb with huge leaves 4-5 feet across. A still larger species, 

 G. manicata is found in Brazil, and in Hawaii a very similar species, 

 G. petaloidea lives in the mountain rain-forest. 



South of lat. 43°, there extends a chain of islands characterized 

 by rain-forests in which mosses, liverworts and ferns are developed 

 to an extraordinary degree, forming dense carpets on the forest 

 floor, and covering the trunks and branches with a thick drapery. 

 Tree-ferns, however, are apparently much less abundant than in 

 the rain-forests in the same latitude in New Zealand. 



The rain-forest occupies the whole coast of southern Chile to 

 the extreme tip of Fuegia; but with the decreasing temperature 

 there is a marked falling off in the number of species, and the trees 

 become more stunted; but the vegetation is still, for the most 

 part, evergreen, for although the climate is raw and boisterous 

 there is no excessive cold. 



The predominant trees are the same as in the forest further 

 north, beeches, Libocedrus, Podocarpus, Weinmannia, Myrtus, 

 Drimys, etc. There are extensive bogs with peat-mosses in which 



