Exploration of Patagonia, geographical and historical background

At the southern end of South America, shared by Argentina and Chile, lies the region of Patagonia (Fig. 1). It comprises the southern section of the Andes, as well as deserts and grasslands, to the east of the mountain range. The Argentinian Patagonia faces the Atlantic Ocean, while the Chilean Patagonia faces the Pacific. At its most southern point lies the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego.

The northern boundary of Chilean Patagonia is marked by the Reloncaví Estuary, while the Colorado and Barrancas Rivers, flowing from the Andes to the Atlantic, serve as the northern limit of Argentinian Patagonia.

The flora of Patagonia is extremely diverse, with clearly differentiated regions within it. The coast region in Río Negro and Chubut is a transition zone between the Chaco Forest and the typical Patagonia steppe where pastures and bushes dominate the landscape (Fig. 2). Getting into central Patagonia, the pastures become less fertile, and the most notable feature is the expanding desert created by man. This is the result of the extensive grazing of goats and sheep, combined with centuries of deforestation. In the western mountain range, the vegetation changes from the steppe to the Patagonian Andean Forest, also known as the sub-Antarctic Forest. This forest is dominated by araucarias, a genus of about twenty species of primitive conifers found only in the cordilleras between Argentina and Chile.

In Austral Patagonia and Tiera del Fuego, as well as in the Falkland Islands (the Malvinas), the vegetation is reduced to a minimum: thin layers of herbs and ferns, along with small forests of bushes. The flora of these regions is currently under significant threat by several processes, including global climate change, livestock grazing, camp burning, visitor impact and spread of invasive species.

In Southern Patagonia, the country connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the strip that gave the name to the region: The Strait of Magellan. Here, the scenery changes considerably, featuring fiords and canals, along with dozens of small towns surrounded by water, hills and mountains. In all of Magallanes, there are glaciers and snowdrifts, formed by the continuous movement of these formations, which began over a million years ago (Fig. 3). Glaciers and fierce winds shaped have played a crucial role in shaping the landscapes. The majority of these glaciers, however, are receding and losing parts of their surfaces due to the warming temperatures of the water, a phenomenon attributed to global warming (Fig. 4).

The highest mountains in this area include Murallon Volcano, with an altitude of 3800 m, making it the highest of the region, Lautaro Volcano (3623 m), Darwin Mount/Mount Darwin (2438 m) and Sarmiento Mount (2187 m). The globally renowned Torres del Paine are also found/situated in this part of the country, standing at an elevation of 3050 m (Fig. 5).

Several botanists and travelers visited the region during the 18^th and 19^th centuries. In chronological order, we should start by mentioning Philibert Commerson (1727-1773), who visited the Falkland Islands and the Strait of Magellan in 1767, as part of the world circumnavigation led by Louis Antoine de Bougainville. During his journey, Commerson collected several species of orchids, including Chloraea commersonii Brongn. (today accepted name: Gavilea lutea (Comm. ex Pers.) M.N.Correa), Chloraea bougainvilleana Franch (today accepted name: Chloraea magellanica Hook.f.), and Codonorchis lessonii (d’Urv.) Lindl. In 1769, Joseph Banks (1743-1820), accompanied by Daniel Solander (1733-1782), landed in Tierra del Fuego, during James Cook’s first voyage to the Pacific Ocean aboard the Endeavour. During this expedition, Solander collected Codonorchis lessonii, later beautifully illustrated by Sydney Parkinson in Banks’ famous Florilegium. During his Pacific expedition, Alessandro Malaspina (1754-1810) briefly visited the Malvinas in 1789, reaching them via the challenging route around Cape Horn (Fig. 6).

In 1820, French botanist Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré (1789-1854), on his return trip from the circumnavigation of the globe under the command of Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet on board of the Uranie, suffered the misfortune of losing the ship in a storm near the Falkland Islands. Officers and crew managed to save themselves, but, unfortunately, the scientific collections were lost. In 1822, Jules Sébastien César Dumont d’Urville (1790-1842), on board of the Coquille, visited the Falkland Islands, Patagonia and Chile, in the company of René-Primevère Lesson (1794-1849). As the botanist of the expedition, Lesson collected a few orchid specimens, among them Codonorchis lessonii.

In 1831, Charles R. Darwin (1809-1882) embarked on HMS Beagle and returned home five years later, in 1836, after circumnavigating the world. In 1832, the expedition reached southern Patagonia. Due to his seasickness, Darwin disembarked the ship in Bahia Blanca, Argentina, and crossed the country on horseback, rejoining the ship in Tierra del Fuego. In this location, he collected a new orchid species, later described by Hooker as Chloraea magellanica (Fig. 7).

A leading figure in Argentinian natural history, Carlo Luigi Spegazzini (1858-1926) (Fig. 8) was born on the 20^th of April 1858, in Bairo, Torino, in northern Italy. He took courses at the School of Viticulture and Oenology in Conegliano (Venice), graduating in 1879. Believing that botanical studies in Italy were well covered by other botanists, he decided to explore other countries and sailed to Argentina, where he disembarked in December 1879, in Buenos Aires. In 1881, soon after his arrival, Spegazzini took part in Lieutenant Santiago Boves’ expedition to Tierra del Fuego. After numerous adventures, including swimming ashore with his botanical collections after a shipwreck, he returned to Buenos Aires in September 1882, with a collection of over 1100 botanical specimens.

In 1884, Spegazzini played a pivotal role as one of the founders of the La Plata National University (Fig. 9). Appointed as professor of Natural Sciences, Agronomy, Chemistry and Pharmacy, he went on to establish the university’s botanical garden and arboretum. Over the years, he extended his botanical collections, taking part in over twenty expeditions, with some of them taking him as far as Brazil, Paraguay and Chile.

According to Katinas et al. (2000), Spegazzini described a total of eleven new orchid species, all in co-authorship with Kraenzlin: Chloraea alborosea Kraenzl. & Speg. (today accepted name Gavilea glandulifera (Poepp.) M.N.Correa), Chloraea chica Speg. & Kraenzl. (today accepted name Gavilea chica (Speg. & Kraenzl.) Chemisquy), Chloraea cholilensis Speg. & Kraenzl. (today accepted name Chloraea alpina Poepp.) (Fig. 10), Chloraea hookeriana Speg. & Kraenzl. (today accepted name Chloraea alpina Poepp.), Chloraea hystrix Speg. & Kraenzl. (today accepted name Chloraea magellanica), Chloraea phoenicea Speg., Chloraea pleistodactyla Kraenzl. & Speg.(today accepted name Chloraea piquichen Lindl.), and Chloraea praecincta Speg. & Kraenzl.

Lucien Leon Hauman-Merck (1880-1965) was a Belgian botanist, who studied and collected plants in South America and Africa. After receiving his education, he relocated to Argentina, where he obtained a position in the Department of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Buenos Aires. From 1904 to 1925, he taught classes in botany, plant pathology, and agricultural microbiology at the university. In 1910, he laid the foundations for the botanical garden of the University of Buenos Aires. During his botanical expeditions, he collected and described a number of new orchid species, among them Chloraea bella Hauman, Chloraea castillonii Hauman (Fig. 11), Chloraea cogniauxii Hauman., Chloraea laxiflora Hauman, and Chloraea subpandurata Hauman (Fig. 12).

In 1927, Hauman returned to Europe, where, from 1928 to 1949, he held the position of professor of botany at the Free University of Brussels. In 1949, he returned to Argentina as an honorary professor at the University of Buenos Aires. The “Jardín Botánico Lucien Hauman” at the university is named in his honor.

Maevia Noemí Correa (1914-2005): A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Maevia N. Correa, “Nemi” for all who knew her (Fig. 13), was a person of great optimism and unwavering will. She spent most of her life and her botanical activity in the company of her husband Osvaldo Boelcke (1920-1990), with whom she shared projects of great magnitude. They complemented each other and generously opened their home to both local and foreign visiting botanists who wanted to undertake studies on the flora of Argentina.

Correa was born in Buenos Aires on February 14^th, 1914, and graduated from the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the University of La Plata. Her early interest in orchids led her to undertake, under the guidance of Dr. Àngel I. Cabrera, the study of the “Argentinian Orchids of the tribe Polychondreae Schlechter, subtribe Spiranthinae Pfitzer”, This research earned her a doctorate in Natural Sciences from the same university. In 1947, she was appointed Assistant at the Chair of Phanerogams and from 1955 to 1958, she held a similar position at the Chair of Vegetable Anatomy and Physiology. Nevertheless, she never felt at ease with teaching and had an aversion to speaking in public. Between 1956-1957, she obtained a grant from the American Association of University Women to study at the Department of Botany of the University of California, Berkeley.

An important event in Correa’s professional life was the establishment of the Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (“National Institute of Technology in Agriculture and Livestock”, or INTA), in 1956. INTA’s official purpose was “to give impulse and to coordinate the development of research and agricultural extension programs and to improve agricultural enterprises and rural life.” In 1958, Correa was appointed as Research Technician at INTA. The rest of her professional life would be closely bound to this institution and one specific project: the taxonomic study of the flora of Argentinian Patagonia, a project she would ultimately bring to its completion and publication.

In its initial stages, the project required numerous exploratory journeys, aimed to enlarge the botanical collections at INTA. Correa participated in approximately 200 botanical expeditions, the majority of which were to Patagonia, mostly in the company of her husband. Among the memorable journeys were those to the province of Neuquén, the Cordillera de los Vientos, and the lagoons of Varvarco. These expeditions were conducted on horses or mules, often involving specialists from different research centers.

Correa directed the work on Flora Patagónica with great enthusiasm and published the first volume in 1969 (Fig. 14). She had to overcome the death of three specialists in different plant families (A. Burkart, S. Botta & R. Rossow). Thus, Correa had to take on the responsibility of the treatment of several plant families, ensuring the completion and publication of the complete Flora. She continued her work after retirement, publishing the last volume of the Flora in 1999.

In the same year, in recognition of her detailed inventory of the flora of a vast region of Argentina, she was honored with the “Pro Novo Millennium Causa” award.

Between 1981-1990, Correa’s role at the Institute of Biological Resources at INTA included both the position of Curator of the Herbarium and Coordinator of the Plan of Argentinian Regional Floras. At the same time, she worked as a researcher ad honorem at the Instituto de Botánica Darwinion, a time she dedicated mainly to the study of her beloved orchids. Finally, in 1979, she received a grant that allowed her to finalize her research on Argentinian orchids at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew and the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris.

While working on the Flora Patagónica, Correa published two other important works on Argentinian orchids: “Las especies argentinas del género Gavilea”, published in 1956, and “Chloraea, género sudamericano de Orchidaceae”, published in 1969.

During her lifetime, “Dama de las Orquídeas”, as she was affectionately known among Argentinian orchidologists, was the leading orchid specialist in her country.

In her final years, she dedicated her efforts to a book titled “Las Orquídeas de la Argentina,” which, unfortunately, was never published (After Rúgolo de Agrasar & Bacigalupo 2005, Fortunato 2005).

The orchids of the Flora Patagonica

Maevia N. Correa documented a total of five genera and fifty-four species of orchids from the Argentinian and Chilean Patagonia (Correa 1956, 1969a, 1969b): Gavilea (9 sp.), Habenaria (1 sp.), Codonorchis (1 sp.), Chloraea (42 sp.) and Brachystele (1 sp.), as indicated in Table 1. Most species were illustrated in five plates with line drawings.

Herewith the series on the orchids of the Southern Cone is completed. The author believes and hopes to have achieved his purpose: to give the so often overlooked and beautiful terrestrial orchids of southern South America their rightful place in the history of American orchidology.

Literature cited

Publication Dates

History