CHAPTER XXXII 



THE WEST COAST OF SOUTH AMERICA 



The littoral floras of the West Coast of South America. — The Convolvulus 

 soldanella zone of Southern Chile.— The plantless or desert zone of 

 Northern Chile. — The Sesuvium zone of Peru. — ^The Mangrove zone of 

 Ecuador and Colombia. — The two varieties of Rhizophora mangle, the 

 " mangle chico " and the " mangle grande." — The floating vegetable drift 

 of the Guayaquil River. — The Humboldt current and the climate of the 

 West Coast of South America. — The advance northward of the arid 

 climatic conditions of the Peruvian sea-border. — The retreat of the man- 

 groves. — Evidence of ancient coral reefs on the coast of Peru. — The shore 

 plants and stranded seed-drift of the Panama Isthmus. — Summary. 



My acquaintance with the strand-flora of the west coast of 

 South America began at Corral, the port of Valdivia, in Southern 

 Chile in lat. 40° S., and terminated at the mouth of the Guayaquil 

 River, in Ecuador, about 2° south of the equator. During the 

 period December 23, 1903, to March 17, 1904, I examined the 

 coast plants at sixteen localities in this region, which covers 38 

 degrees of latitude and thus measures about 2,300 miles. Travel- 

 ling in a steamer to Callao that was trading on the coast I had 

 opportunities of staying for periods ranging from half a day to a 

 couple of days at a considerable number of places ; and a week 

 spent at ^Valparaiso gave me a good opportunity of examining the 

 beaches north and south of it. At Lima 1 spent some weeks, and 

 from that^centre examined the shore-plants at Callao, Ancon, and 

 Chancay to the northward. North of this I had not the same 

 opportunities, until we passed the Peruvian and Ecuadorian 

 boundary ; but from a visit to the shore at Paita, from the general 

 look of the country in places as we coasted along, and from 

 information derived from other sources, I was able to obtain a fair 

 general idea of the prevailing character of the beach plants. After 

 my previous experience to the southward, one could fairly gauge 



