page_title: Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park
section_title: Flora
hierarchical_section_title: Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park / Flora
caption_attribution_description: Petrohué River, Chile
context_page_description: Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park is located in Los Lagos Region, Llanquihue Province, of Chile. Its western entrance is close to the Ensenada locality, 82 km northeast of the provincial capital of Puerto Montt, and 64 km from Puerto Varas along Ruta CH-225. This national park covers about 2,530 km² and is almost entirely in the Andes mountain chain. The adjacent national parks Vicente Pérez Rosales and Puyehue National Park in Chile, and Nahuel Huapi National Park and Lanín National Park in Argentina, provide a continuous protected area of close to 15,000 km².
  The park protects the body of Todos los Santos Lake and a large part of its catchment. The outlet of the lake at the Petrohué locality gives rise to the Petrohué River. A short distance downstream, still within the limits of the Park, the Petrohué river flows through the Petrohue Waterfalls. The Park also contains the eastern slope of Volcan Osorno, the southern slope of the Puntiagudo and the western slopes of the Tronador, with a maximum altitude of 3,491 m. These mountains with year round snow give a strong imprint to the landscape.
context_section_description: The vegetation of the Park corresponds to the Valdivian temperate rain forests in its mountain variant. The composition of the forest changes with altitude and substratum. Generally the most common and visible tree is coihue, Nothofagus dombeyi, in changing association with other species that include muermo, also known as ulmo, Eucryphia cordifolia and tineo, teñiu, Weinmannia trichosperma. At relatively warm locations, that is, close to the lake, there are thickets of tique, Aextoxicon punctatum. In particularly humid locations, canelo, fuñe, Drimys winteri is common; this species is also known as Winter's bark. At altitudes above 900 meters, coihue is replaced by deciduous leaf Nothofagus species.
  Trees and bushes of the Myrtaceae, the family of myrtus, are with nine species the most diversified taxon in the Park. They are generally associated with the presence of plenty water. Easily visible on beaches because of its bright orange bark is Temu, arrayan, Luma apiculata, Chilean myrtle. Luma colorada, reloncavi, Amomyrtus luma is well known in Chile because of its dense, heavy wood that was used to manufacture police truncheons.
  The lineage of the Proteaceae, with relatives in Australia and New Zealand, has several representatives in the Park. Notro, fosforillo, Embothrium coccineum, Chilean firebush, has plentiful red tubular flowers and is frequent almost everywhere at the fringe of the forest. Avellano, gevuin, Gevuina avellana, Chilean hazel, carries edible nuts called avellanas. This tree does not shed its nuts until the following year, so on its branches co-exist yellow-white aromatic flowers, unripe red nuts and ripe black nuts.
  Among herbaceous vegetation, the giant pangue, nalca, Chilean rhubarb Gunnera tinctoria is ubiquitous. It grows up to 2 meters tall and has very large leaves. The stem is edible and the indigenous name "nalca" actually applies to this part of the plant. The root was used in the past for dyeing wool; it yields a brown color. Pangue is among the first plants to colonize land freed by landslide.
  In this forest ecosystem, a number of plant species rely on birds, notably hummingbirds, for pollination. The flowers of these species are generally bright red and yellow and have no perfume. The flowers awaiting the visit of birds tend to be tubular and hanging.
  A number of exotic plants have become feral in the Park. The most visible impact is given by retamo, Spanish Broom Spartium junceum, syn. Genista juncea, also known as Weaver's Broom, a perennial, leguminous shrub native to the Mediterranean region, toxic to animals. It thrives on the sand fields around the Osorno, along the road from Ensenada to Petrohue and in Petrohue. Retamo is very pretty when in flower but it does not belong.
caption: Petrohué River
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