page_title: Wildlife of Chile
section_title: Flora
hierarchical_section_title: Wildlife of Chile / Flora
caption_attribution_description: Lapageria rosea
context_page_description: The wildlife of Chile encompasses a diverse range of animals and plants, a condition is attributed to the country's slender and elongated shape, which spans a wide range of latitude, and also its altitude, ranging from the windswept coastline of the Pacific coast on the west to northern Andes to the sub-Antarctic, high Andes mountains in the east. There are many distinct ecosystems.
  Chile, often called "The spine of South America", has 100 protected areas covering a total area of 14.5 million hectares in 36 National parks, 49 National Reserves, and 15 National Monuments. In the southern part of Chile, 50 percent of the flora is endemic which is a unique feature in the world. Lapageria rosea is the national flower, Andean condor, is the national bird, and taruca or South Andean huemul, is the national animal of Chile. Legally, wildlife in Chile is res nullius.
context_section_description: The country's flora is composed of "56 orders, 181 families, 837 genera, and about 4,295 species" with large numbers in terms of genera and species from the families Asteraceae, Poaceae, Fabaceae, and Solanaceae. The land is divided into latitudes sections which dictate the country's vegetation; the soil conditions of the lands and the climatic conditions are key factors in this respect. In the northern desert region (Atacama Desert, the driest place on Earth) which is the desert region of sand there is no precipitation at all but it still sustains not only vegetation but also fauna; the coastal fogs moving up sustain them. The desert vegetation consists of a spiny acacia tree, varieties of cacti as well as shrubs and spiny brambles. In the high plateau area of northern Chile, the common species of flora are llareta and grasses of ichu and tola varieties. The semiarid region of central Chile, cacti, espino and algarrobo hardwood, and Adesmia shrubs are the notable flora. In the humid and temperate region of central Chile, vegetation is defined by the term matorral which consists of thick growth of hardwoods, shrubs, cacti, and green grass; however the vegetation is thinning due to heavy anthropogenic pressure on land. South of the Biobío River, mixed deciduous forest and evergreen trees are the common vegetation types; the species reported are rauli or southern cedar, the roble beech, the ulmo(an evergreen shrub), and the evergreen laurel. The vegetation types in the western slopes of the Andes are formed of thick forests of monkey puzzle tree (Chile pine). The Lake District of Chile has dense rain forests of timber species. To the south of the lake, the dominant vegetation consists of Antarctic beech, the Chilean cedar, and the giant alerce (this tree in southern Chile is reported to be 3000 years old and is the "second largest living organism in the world"). In the Chilean Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego island, due to weather conditions only dwarf variety of southern beech and hard grasses are noted.
  Of all the floral vegetation in Chile, the pristine floral vegetation of sub-Antarctic forests (including deciduous lenga forests, peat bogs, Andean meadows) are found in the Tierra del Fuego (meaning "Land of Fire"), in the eastern part in Chile and the western part in Argentina, part of which is the Bernardo O'Higgins National Park, which is the largest protected areas in South America. In the southern part of Chile, 50 percent of the flora (part of temperate rain forest called the Valdivian forests) is endemic, a unique feature in the world.
  Lapageria rosea (Chilean bellflower), a twining climber, considered as one of the most beautiful flowering vines in the world, is the national flower of Chile.
caption: Lapageria rosea Chilean bellflower, 
   the national flower
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