Hastings: Flora of central Chile 619 



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plants are mainly in large low clumps or mats, the *'Polster" 

 formation of Reiche ; in the upper the plants grow singly or in 

 widely separated small clumps. The mats in the lower zone may 

 be of one or several species. They are usually so dense that the 

 lower portions are nearly solid with stems and dead leaves, with the 

 green of new growth mantling the surface. Near the tree-h'ne 

 Valenztidia trinaids is one of the principal plants in such forma- 

 tions. It grows to one or two feet in height and often soh'dly covers 

 areas twenty to thirty feet in diameter. Similar, though smaller, 

 mats are formed by the thorny umbellifer, Midinum spinosiim, 

 by the composite, Chuquiraga oppositifoUa^ by Ephedra andina, and 

 by other shrubby plants. With these there are other plants, espe- 

 cially bulbous ones, that develop in the spring while the ground 

 IS saturated with the water from melting snow. Anemone cJdIaisis. 



Diposis Bidbocastamtvi^ and species of Ldiaccae and AmaryUidaceae 

 are among these. Lu:;tda clulensis^ Eleoeharis striatida^ and a few 

 grasses are found in marshy spots. Somewhat higher, Laretia 

 acaidts forms dense mats, species of Caleeolaria are found asso- 

 ciated with various composites, Aldunatea^ Chaetanthera, Apia- 

 pcipptis^ and Nassaiivia^ species of Argylia, and others, all low 

 perennials, in other mats. 



The highest formation is of plants so scattered and small that 

 from a short distance the ground seems absolutely barren. Oi 

 the plants found at these high levels many are tiny things hidden 

 between stones and only noticed on close examination, Aldunatca 

 chilensis may be taken as typical of these. The plant consists of a 

 rosette of tiny leaves covered with a grayish felt. From the 

 middle of a cluster of forty or fifty leaves grows the head, like 

 a tiny daisy, the whole plant so small that it could be hidden 

 under a quarter-dollar. Similar in general characters arc Viola 

 Philippii and other acaulescent violets, except that instead of a 

 central flower a ring of tiny blue-black violets peep out around 

 the rosette of leaves, the whole plant being rarely an inch and a 

 half in diameter ; the stout rootstock is closely marked with the 

 scars of former leaves and blossoms. Other plants of similar 

 habit are Ahhnmtea gnaphalioidcs, Plantago spp., and Astragalus 

 Germaini, while Nastanthus agglomeratus, A. spathulatus, and 

 Phacelia circinata are somewhat larger but of the same general 

 habit. 



