Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Plants
At high elevations in the Andes, especially in the Cordilleras Blanca and Huayhuash, out-
side Huaraz, there is a cornucopia of distinctive alpine flora and fauna. Plants encountered
in this region include native lupins, spiky tussocks of ichu grass, striking quenua
(Polylepis)
trees with their distinctive curly, red paperlike bark, in addition to unusual bro-
meliads (
Click here
)
. Many alpine wildflowers bloom during the trekking season,
between May and September.
In the south, you'll find the distinctive
puna
ecosystem. These areas have a fairly lim-
ited flora of hard grasses, cushion plants, small herbaceous plants, shrubs and dwarf trees.
Many plants in this environment have developed small, thick leaves that are less suscept-
ible to frost and radiation. In the north, there is some
páramo,
which has a harsher cli-
mate, is less grassy and has an odd mixture of landscapes, including peat bogs, glacier-
formed valleys, alpine lakes, wet grasslands and patches of scrubland and forest.
GIANT FLOWERS OF THE MOUNTAINS
Reaching the staggering height of more than 10m, with an explosive, flower-encrusted cigar shape that looks to be
straight out of a Dr Seuss book, the
Puya raimondii
certainly takes the award for most unusual flora. The world's
tallest flowering plant is a member of the pineapple family and can take up to a century or more to mature. In full
bloom, each plant flaunts up to 8000(!) white flowers, each resembling a lily. It blooms only once in its lifetime,
after which the plant dies. Some of the most famous stands of
Puya raimondii
can be found in the Peruvian
Andes, in the rocky mountainscape outside Huaraz, near Catac (
Click here
) and Punta Winchus (
Click here
).
Vegetation of the Cloud & Rainforest
As the eastern Andean slopes descend into the western Amazon uplands, the scenery once
again changes. Here, tropical cloud forests - so named because they trap (and help create)
clouds that drench the forest in a fine mist - allow delicate forms of plant life to survive.
Cloud forest trees are adapted to steep slopes, rocky soils and a rugged climate. They are
characterized by low, gnarled growth, dense small-leafed canopies and moss-covered
branches supporting a host of plants such as orchids, ferns and bromeliads. The mist and
the dense vegetation give the cloud forest a mysterious, fairy-tale appearance.
