Places I've always wanted to visit: High Altitude Chile

Trying something new, I thought I'd post some photos/info about places in the world that are botanically amazing that I've always wanted to go to, but don't have $6000 a pop to blow on each. None of these photos are mine. Credit given.

I've always wanted to visit Chile: High altitude Andes are a particularly interesting botanical zone. There are all sorts of very strange looking things there.

Azorella compacta is a particularly strange plant, called a cushion plant it forms massive mounds after hundreds of years. Second photo from chileflora.com.




More info/photos for Azorella can be found here

If you thought you knew the genus viola (violets) without thinking about Chile, then you don't know Viola. They have quite a few very strange plants up there... Here's the columnar viola atropurpurea. Not your grandmothers violets, are they. (also from Chile flora)



Fields and hillsides of Rhodophiala, a genus of the Amaryllis family. (Photo Ashaff on Flickr).


Don't forget the Proteas of Chile/Argentina: Embothrium coccineum blooming at high altitude. Photo by Dave Hammaker.