Flora of Arequipa, Peru E-Book

Edgar Heim

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 90

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

This field guide illustrates and describes ca. 20% of the recorded 1’160 vascular plants of the department of Arequipa in Southern Peru. It aims to be a comprehensive field guide for tourists and locals. The first part of the book describes the vegetation of Arequipa. It gives an overview of the harsh conditions of south-peruvian ecosystems. Bone-dry deserts and high mountains with extreme temperature fluctuations challenges plant growth. Such ecosystmes demand adaptation by the inhabitants, especially by the plants, which can not escape their habitat. The second part of the book is dedicated to the plant species of the departement of Arequipa. With the illustrations and the description in this book, the reader should be able to recognize the plants in their habitat. Additionally it provides information about the use and the ecology of the described species.

Leseprobe

First editionNovember, 2014

Contents

Arequipa and its Vegetation

Geography of Arequipa

Geology of Arequipa

Phytogeography of South Peru

Climate and Vegetation

Plant Species

Flora

Taxonomy and Nomenclature

Description of Species

Ecology and Distribution

Human Use of Plants

Pictures

Abbreviations

Pteridophyta - Ferns

Aspleniaceae

Pteridaceae

Salviniaceae

Thelypteridaceae

Gymnospermae – Fruitless Seed Plants

Araucariaceae

Ephedraceae

Angiospermae – Flowering Plants

Adoxaceae

Aizoaceae

Amaranthaceae

Anacardiaceae

Apiaceae

Araceae

Araliaceae

Asteraceae

Bignoniaceae

Boraginaceae

Bromeliaceae

Cactaceae

Calceolariaceae

Caricaceae

Caryophyllaceae

Convolvulaceae

Crassulaceae

Cyperaceae

Fabaceae

Grossulariaceae

Juncaceae

Lamiaceae

Loasaceae

Loranthaceae

Malvaceae

Myrtaceae

Onagraceae

Oxalidaceae

Passifloraceae

Piperaceae

Plantaginaceae

Poaceae

Polemoniaceae

Polygonaceae

Portulacaceae

Ranunculaceae

Rhamnaceae

Rosaceae

Salicaceae

Sapotaceae

Scrophulariaceae

Solanaceae

Verbenaceae

Vivianiaceae

References

Index

Introduction

The flora of Peru counts around 20,000 species of vascular plants. Most of them grow in the biodiversity hotspots of Peru on the eastern slopes of the Andes. 1,160 of them grow in the department of Arequipa situated on the northern end of the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on earth.

This field guide illustrates and describes ca. 20% of the recorded 1,160 vascular plants of the department of Arequipa in Southern Peru. It aims to be a comprehensive field guide for tourists and locals.

The first part of the book describes the vegetation of Arequipa. It gives an overview of the harsh conditions of southern Peruvian ecosystems. Bone-dry deserts and high mountains with extreme temperature fluctuations challenges plant growth. Such ecosystems demand adaptation by the inhabitants, especially by the plants, which cannot escape their habitat.

The second part of the book is dedicated to the plant species of the department of Arequipa. With the illustrations and the descriptions in this book, the reader should be able to recognize the plants in their habitat. Additionally it provides information about the use and the ecology of the described species.

Knowledge of species enhances environmental care. If you know something, you may love it. If this booklet is able to inspire a few more people for the beauty of nature and its creatures, it was worth to invest the time for writing it.

Please tell me if you find a mistake in the book or one of the plants was missidentified!

Edgar Heim

[email protected]

Arequipa and its Vegetation

Geography of Arequipa

Arequipa is one of the 25 departments of Peru located between longitude 14°40’ and 17°20’ S and latitude 70° 50’ and 75°10’ W. In the west it borders to the Pacific Ocean, in the north to the departments of Ica, Apurimac and Ayacucho, in the east to Cuzco and Puno and in the south to Moquegua.

fig. 1 Location of the department of Arequipa in Peru (Wikipedia, 2013)

Arequipa covers an area of 63,345km2 and the highest point is the volcano Coropuna, attaining an elevation of 6,425m. According to the 2007 census the population of the department counts 1,218,168 people. 85% speak Spanish, 15% Quetchua. About 1 million live in the capital, the city of Arequipa.

The economy is mainly based on trade (ca. 15% of GDP), agriculture (13% of GDP), the booming construction sector (ca. 11%) and mining (9% of GDP). Tourism has been successfully developed in Peru such that the number of incoming tourists for the whole country rose from 1,000,000 in 2002 to 2,900,000 in 2012 (INEI, 2013). Arequipa has many tourist attractions and it can be assumed that it is benefiting above-average from this rise.

The first evidence of human beings living in the region of Arequipa are rock carvings and cave paintings, dating back to 700–1500 AD. This astonishingly recent emergence accentuates the harshness of Arequipa’s deserts.

Geology of Arequipa

Arequipa is characterized by its active volcanoes. In the north the volcanoes Nevado Solimana (6093m), Coropuna (6425m) and Ampato (6288m) emerge from the desert. Between the high mountains the Cotahuasi River and the Colca River have carved the deepest canyons in the world. The city of Arequipa itself is surrounded by three volcanoes, Chachani (6057m), Misti (5822m) and Pikchu-Pikchu (5664m).

Evidence of volcanic activity can be found everywhere. The buildings in Arequipa are built of Sillar, a whitish volcanic rock. The road cuts in rural areas make visible layers of ash and lava flows from several eruptions.

Nevertheless the soils of a vast part of Arequipa are sedimentary rocks or alluvial deposits. As the South American plate drifted westwards, it collided with the Nazca Plate 150 million years ago (see fig. 2). The latter was pushed down and formed a trench along the two colliding plates which was gradually filled up with eroded material from the adjacent South American plate (so-called turbidite sediments). 60 million years ago these sediments were lifted several thousand meters due to the folding process which formed the Andes and presently appear at the surface high up in the mountains (see turbiditic fan in fig. 3). Volcanic activity interferes with this process so that sediment layers may be covered by ash and lava.

fig. 2 Formation of the Andes (on the basis of Ernst Klett Verlag GmbH, 2014)

The lifting of the Andes changed the continental divide on the South American Plate. Rivers that used to drain into the Pacific Ocean were retained and had to find another way to dewater. Huge inland seas formed in the interandean depressions and on the eastern slopes of the Andes. Lake Titicaca and the saline lakes in southern Peru and western Bolivia are remnants of this era. In the course of time the water found new ways to the ocean and the contemporary continental divide was formed. Some rivers formed huge canyons to the Pacific (e.g Colca, Cotahuasi), others formed a new river system eastwards, known nowadays as Amazonas Basin. Arequipa is mainly drained to the Pacific but the waters of the far northeastern part take the long way to the Atlantic. Some hydric systems did not find an escape to the Ocean and formed salt lakes, e.g. Lake Titicaca drains trough the Desaguadero River to Lake Poopó, a salt lake without outlet.

The huge inland lakes were filled with alluvial sediments and formed vast interandean plains which we know nowadays as mesetas altoandinas (e.g. Pampa de Cañahuas on the way to Colca, see basin plain in fig. 3).

fig. 3 Geological map of Arequipa and Moquegua (Vicente, 2006)

Generally marine sediment rocks are calcareous. Also the lava and ash from eruptive volcanoes normally reacts alkaline. In addition the climate of Arequipa is arid so that the soils are not excessively washed out. Therefore most soils show pH values in the neutral or basic range. Nevertheless there are also siliceous soils (e.g. range south of the city of Arequipa, road to Chapi), either formed by intrusive rocks or due to high sand content. A detailed geological map of Arequipa is available from the Instituto Geológico Minero y Metalúrgico (INGEMMET, 2014).

Another curiosity of volcanic provenance is the barchans dunes. For instance near the Panamericana Highway between La Repartición and Estación San José (16°34’ S, 71°42’ W, 1500m) several smaller barchan dunes are moving on the plain (Sparavigna, 2013). The dunes are formed by fine-grained volcanic ash from the Huaynaputina eruption in the year 1600, which was the largest volcanic explosion in South America in recorded history and killed more than 1,500 people.

fig. 4 Barchan dunes in La Repartición and the volcano Chachani in the abiotic zone at 1500m.

Phytogeography of South Peru

Peru is located in the Neotropical floristic kingdom and therein is part of the Andean floristic region. Galán de Mera et al. (1997) divide the Peruvian south into five biogeographical provinces (fig. 5).

fig. 5 Phytogeographic provinces of South Peru (Galán de Mera, Linares Perea, Campos de la Cruz, & Vicente Orellana, 2009, with additions)

Based on the biome classification of Walter & Breckle (1999), the desertic provinces Limeño-Arequipeña and Atacama belong to the zonobiome III, the subtropical desert vegetation. The Oruro-Arequipeña, Ancashino-Paceña and Urubambense provinces belong to the orobiom II, the seasonal vegetation of tropical mountains. The province Madre de Dios is a transition stage between zonobiome I and II, which means that it illustrates the gradual change from evergreen tropical forests to tropical seasonal forests.

Climate and Vegetation

The climate of Arequipa is strongly influenced by the Humboldt Current, a cold ocean current that flows northwards along the Pacific Coast from southern Chile to central Peru. The Humboldt Current cools the marine air, reduces its humidity and makes precipitations very scarce. Along the coast it rains only in years with El Niño events which occur every 7–10 years. In the time between such rainfalls the desert is dry as a nuns cunt. The Atacama Desert is known to be the driest spot on earth.

The climate diagrams in fig. 6 underline the gradient in temperature, precipitation and aridity from the Pacific Coast (e.g. port of Ilo) to interandean valleys as described above. Notably the temperature is relatively constant throughout the year at all three sites. The decreasing temperature from Ilo to Cuzco is an effect of altitude. Contrary the precipitation increases dramatically. Along the coast the climate is strongly arid, in Arequipa the months of January and February are humid and in Cuzco the rainy season lasts seven months. Unfortunately there is no long-term climate data available for the northeastern part of Arequipa but probably such data would not significantly differ from the data of Cuzco.

The Humboldt Current prevents rain but does not impede fog and cloud forming. In winter most of the coastal plains are capped with high fog for months (fig. 8). This fog produces some precipitation between 250–1000m which allows the growth of seasonal vegetation called fog desert, fog oasis or lomas (fig. 9).

Above the altitude of 800–1000m the influence of the fog vanishes and the high mountains, which capture clouds and produce seasonal rains, are too far away to allow plant growth. It is the abiotic zone located between 1000–2000m, a very dry landscape virtually devoid of life (fig. 10).