Name:
Southern Andean Mediterranean Montane Scrub & Forb Meadow Macrogroup
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This macrogroup represents several herbaceous and short shrubland communities that develop on the western slopes of the Andes in central Chile, with dry to sub-humid Mediterranean climate. These slopes are usually very rocky and show some bare soil areas. Generally, plant communities develop on or around boulders and rocky substrates which accumulate pockets of soil and provide microhabitats for plats to grow. These communities are dominated by succulent caulirosulates of the genus <i>Puya</i>, cacti species and other short herbs. The lower slopes (800-1500 m altitude) present larger forms of these plants and also shrubs forming part of the community. Vegetation on higher slopes, above 1600 m elevation, also includes succulent, thorny species but those tend to be shorter, as well as fewer shrubs. Characteristic species of these communities are <i>Trichocereus chilensis, Retanilla trinervia, Colliguaja odorifera, Dioscorea heterophylla, Tristerix aphyllus, Puya coerulea, Puya berteroniana, Eryngium paniculatum, Calceolaria polifolia, Tweedia birostrata</i>, and <i>Haplopappus integerrimus</i>. Included also in this macrogroup are herb and shrub communities growing from ca. 2000 to 3000 m elevation on the Andean slopes, in western Mendoza and Neuquen in Argentina and in central Chile. These are cespitose bunchgrass species and microphyllous, thorn shrubs, including cushion-forming ones with some differences in composition between the western and eastern Andean slopes. In the former, typical taxa are <i>Nardophyllum lanatum, Nassauvia heterophylla, Anarthrophyllum cummingii, Junellia spathulata, Berberis empetrifolia, Chuquiraga oppositifolia, Tetraglochin alatum, Acaena splendens, Ephedra chilensis</i>, and <i>Mulinum spinosum</i>, and in the latter are <i>Adesmia remyana, Adesmia horrida, Adesmia obovata, Adesmia pinifolia, Doniophyton patagonicum, Berberis empetrifolia, Mulinum spinosum, Mulinum ulicinum, Mulinum crassifolium, Nassauvia axillaris</i>, and <i>Pantacantha ameghinoi</i>.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:40976-{D96457BA-63D3-4DC8-9719-5668F0F6D70C}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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