page_title: Gran Chaco
section_title: Flora
hierarchical_section_title: Gran Chaco / Flora
caption_attribution_description: English: Prosopis alba is a South American tree species that inhabits the center part of Argentina, the Gran Chaco ecoregion and part of the Argentine Mesopotamia. It is known as algarrobo blanco in Spanish.
context_page_description: The Gran Chaco or Dry Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semiarid lowland natural region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina, and a portion of the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, where it is connected with the Pantanal region. This land is sometimes called the Chaco Plain.
context_section_description: The Gran Chaco has some of the highest temperatures on the continent.
  It has high biodiversity, containing around 3,400 plant species, 500 birds, 150 mammals, and 220 reptiles and amphibians.
  The floral characteristics of the Gran Chaco are varied given the large geographical span of the region. The dominant vegetative structure is xerophytic deciduous forests with multiple layers, including a canopy (trees), subcanopy, shrub layer, and herbaceous layer. Ecosystems include riverine forests, wetlands, savannas, and cactus stands, as well.
  At higher elevations of the eastern zone of the Humid Chaco, mature forests transition from the wet forests of southern Brazil. These woodlands are dominated by canopy trees such as Handroanthus impetiginosus and characterized by frequent lianas and epiphytes. This declines to seasonally flooded forests, at lower elevations, that are dominated by Schinopsis spp., a common plains tree genus often harvested for its tannin content and dense wood. The understory comprises bromeliad and cactus species, as well as hardy shrubs such as Schinus fasciculatus. These lower areas lack lianas, but have abundant epiphytic species such as Tillandsia. The river systems that flow through the area, such as the Rio Paraguay and Rio Parana, allow for seasonally flooded semievergreen gallery forests that hold riparian species such as Tessaria integrifolia and Salix humboldtiana. Other seasonally flooded ecosystems of this area include palm-dominated (Copernicia alba) savannas with a bunch grass-dominated herbaceous layer.
  To the west, in the Semiarid/Arid Chaco,  medium-sized forests consists of Aspidosperma quebracho-blanco and Schinopsis quebracho with a slightly shorter subcanopy made up of several species from the family Fabaceae, as well as several arboreal cacti species that distinguish this area of the Chaco. A scrub-like shrub and herbaceous layer occurs. On sandy soils, the thick woodlands turn into savannas where the aforementioned species prevail, as well as species such as Jacaranda mimosifolia. The giant Stetsonia coryne, found throughout the western Semiarid/Arid region becomes very conspicuous in these sandy savannas. Various upland systems of plant associations occur throughout the Gran Chaco. The Highlands of the Argentinian Chaco are made up of, on the dry, sunny side (up to 1800m), Schinopsis haenkeana woodlands. The cooler side of the uplands hosts Zanthoxylum coco (locally referred to as Fagara coco) and Schinus molleoides (locally referred to as Lithrea molleoides) as the predominant species. Other notable species include Bougainvillea stipitata, and several species from the Fabaceae. The Paraguyan uplands have other woodland slope ecosystems, notably, those dominated by Anadenanthera colubrina on moist slopes. Both of these upland systems, as well as numerous other Gran Chaco areas, are rich with endemism.
caption: An Algarrobo, white carob tree, in the Gran Chaco area of Argentina. This prized shade tree is common to the area.
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