Peru, Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina, Jan-Feb 2010

Participants: Pablo Carrillo-Reyes, Paloma Gachon, Gina Arancio, Natalia Schroeder, Andrea Cosacov, Francisco Córdoba and Matías S. Mora.

Trip account by P. Carrillo-Reyes.

This five week trip was mostly dedicated to herbarium research in Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay, but I also spent two weeks plant collecting in northern Chile and Argentina. Both herbarium and fieldwork were focused on Euphorbia section Portulacastrum; however, several other Euphorbia species were also collected.

In Chile, Paloma and I went plant collecting in regions III and IV of northern Chile. Prof. Gina Arancio, from Universidad de La Serena, kindly accompanied us during one day to several localities near La Serena. Although the area was very dry, we were able to locate two populations of E. collina, some species of E. subgenus Chamaesyce, and the shrubby E. lactiflua, which we found in the southern part of its distribution, growing on a beautiful rocky landscape north of the city of Caldera.

In Argentina, I visited the province of Mendoza and with the assistance of Nati Schroeder tried (unfortunately unsuccessfully!) to collect E. schikendantzii and E. collina. After that trip, I set my base in the city of Córdoba and from there visited, along with Pancho and Andrea, the provinces of Tucumán, Salta, and Jujuy. We collected E. portulacoides, E. hinkleyorum, and many E. subgenus Chamaesyce species. We also spent a day looking for E. hieronymi around its type locality close to Córdoba, and two days searching for the elusive E. vervoorstii, in two of the four known localities, and we failed to find both species. Very disappointing!

Finally, I traveled to the southern part of the province of Buenos Aires and went with Matías to the Sierra of Tandil to collect E. caespitosa, which we found but the plants were sterile.

I am very grateful to Paloma, Gina, Pancho, Andrea, and Matías as well as to the curators and staff of the following institutions and herbaria for their assistance during my trip: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (USM, Peru), Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina (MOL, Peru), Universidad de La Serena (ULS, Chile), Museo Nacional de Historia Natural (SGO, Chile), Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Aridas-Mendoza (MERL), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (CORD), Instituto de Botánica Darwinion (SI), Universidad Nacional de La Plata (LP), Universidad de La República (MVFA).