that of the European beech, and apparently suitable to take the place of the lower grades of mahogany in the manufacture of furniture. It cracks, however, badly in drying, and will require very careful seasoning. In the forests of Chillan (lat. 36°), N. obliqua grows up to 4000 or 5000 feet, being replaced at higher elevations by N. antarctica and N. pumilio; and reaches its southern limit in the region of Lake Llanquihue. A photograph by Mr. Bartlett Calvert, who accompanied me on my journey, shows the appearance of this tree in the forest at about 3000 feet, near the source of the Renaico River (Plate 156). Here the undergrowth is usually composed of a dense thicket of the Chilean bamboo (Chusguea sp.); and in the more open places the ground is often carpeted with a dense bed of Alstrœmeria aurantiaca, whose brilliant orange flowers produce a most lovely effect. In the wetter places it is associated with Drimys Winteri and many beautiful shrubs and herbaceous plants, of which Eucryphia pinnatifida, Embothrium coccineum, Tropæolum speciosum, and several species of Fuchsia and Calceolaria are the choicest ornaments of our gardens in the warmer and damper parts of the south-west of England and Ireland. In many parts of the Chilean forests it is often covered with a lovely parasitic plant, Myzodendron linearifolium, DC.,[1] which hangs in silvery masses from the branches.
Nothofagus Dombeyi is known to the Chileans by its Indian name of Cozgue, and is a large and common tree in Chile. It is usually associated with N. obliqua, but does not extend so far to the northward, not being found to the north of the Maule river. It is widely spread in Araucania, Valdivia, and Llanquihue, and occurs also on the Argentine side of the frontier. It grows on the island of Chiloe, and has been collected on the river Aysen (lat. 45°); but its extreme southern limit is not accurately known.
Nothofagus nitida, which has been much confused with N. Dombeyi, is a common forest tree in the coast mountains of Valdivia, and grows on Chiloe and the Guaitecas Islands. The distribution of this species has not yet been satisfactorily determined. Nothofagus procera, known as Raul, is less common than N. obliqua, to which it is allied, and usually grows scattered in the forest. Its northerly limit lies between 35° and 36° lat., and it does not occur farther south than the province of Valdivia, where it becomes a stately tree. It does not cross the frontier into Argentina.
Nothofagus antarctica is widely distributed, extending from about lat. 38° to Tierra del Fuego. It is the commonest species which I found on my tour at high elevations, both on the Chilean and Argentine sides of the frontier. It is associated with Araucaria at 4000 feet, and is common also in the plain of Valdivia in marshy situations. In the mountains around the great lake of Nahuelhuapi, the leaves of this species had already assumed their autumnal tint in February. N. antarctica and N. betuloides are the dominant trees in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego; and
- ↑ I found this species in the low country about Temuco in Chile, and also on the Argentine side of the frontier in two or three localities. Two other species also occur:—M. oblongifolium, DC., which I found on Nothofagus antarctica, near the baths of Chillan at 5000 to 7000 feet elevation; and M. punctulatum, DC., which I gathered on Nothofagus Dombeyi at Lake Meliquina, and in the dense evergreen forest which skirts the glaciers of the great Tronador mountain at 2000 feet in lat. 40°.
