Contest: Come and Promote Your Geographical Plant

I love this contest!! So much more because I live in a very particular area of Argentina. I live in Mendoza, this is a city in the west of the country, where is Cordillera de Los Andes. So, thank you very much, @bright-obias!! This is an entry only because I like the contest, but of course, I don't participate in the prizes.

We have a lot of shrubbery in our native flora because the wheater is very dry. In fact, Mendoza has three oases: north, center, and south, that is wherein some rivers had given us the chance to build the city. Those rivers collect water from the ice belt.

I live in the northern oasis of Mendoza, which is different from the other two oases, but share some characteristics with flora mostly from the central oasis.

Some particularities about vegetation

Here the form of vegetation, and I could say, the shape of its, change mostly because of the altitude. Mendoza city is 800 meters up to the level of the sea, and if you drive 1 hour by car to the west, you'll be 2000 meters up. So... you can imagine that flora becomes very different while the altitude gets higher.

Today I'm going to focus on flora from Mendoza city. I mean, 800 meters up sea level and what you can find in the northern oasis.

North of Mendoza: its vegetation

Here in the city, about what native flora concerns, we have plenty of shrubberies. Most of them are not marketed, because they do not have a very defined function, but there is a tree corresponding to arid zones which is the vine, which allows us to carry out the wine industry, which is the most important in my province. Among them I could name:

Some shrubberies

• Jarilla (Larrea divaricata)
  This plant is very well known because it helps to calm joint and muscular pain. Is very common to see creams made with it in chemists. It's also used to cook barbecues in the mountain or campings. You have to put the branches and leaves on the embers, and that gives a very rich smoky flavor to the meat.

_{I took this picture myself with a Samsung Note 10 Plus. Cerro Arco, Mendoza.}

• Gordolobo (Verbascum thapsus)

_{I took this picture myself with a Samsung Note 10 Plus. Cerro Arco, Mendoza.}

• Coirón
  This is an arid zone herb quite characteristic of the entire province. They basically grow with very strong roots and their function is to allow the soil to become permeable due to the plant's need for water consumption. Without them, the ground would quickly become waterproofed and runoff would be very fast.

_{I took this picture myself with a Samsung Note 10 Plus. Cerro Arco, Mendoza.}

• Alcanfor (heterotheca subaxillaris)

_{I took this picture myself with a Samsung Note 10 Plus. Cerro Arco, Mendoza.}

Some trees

• Vine (Vitis)
  This is the star vegetation of my province. It is a bush - tree, which can even look like a vine. It is what produces the grape and is found mainly in the north and center of Mendoza. Economically it is a key resource of the territory, since it allows not only internal production and commercialization but also large volumes of wine are exported, which greatly stimulates the economy.

_{I took this picture myself with an iPhone 8 Plus, Luján de cuyo, Mendoza.}

• Carob (Prosopis flexuosa)
  Its wood is often used and food is also made with it. However, there are not too many copies, so there are regulations that protect it.

Source of the picture

Life time

With regard to the life of all these plants, they are perennial shrubs, that is, they are there all year round. The vine, for its part, bears its fruits in the month of March (also at the end of February), which is when it is harvested.

This has been a quick review of the plants in my city, but to be honest, there are a lot. AsI mentioned before, despite of being an arid wheater, as well as the high of the soil increase, the weather starts to change and echosystem follow it dynamics.

I've studied a lot of this in Geographer career, but I had to check some information, o I turned to an investigation that I'm proud to have been a part of when I was a student, which deals with the ecosystems of the north of the province of Mendoza. Then I leave the link.

Ecosystems of the north of the province of Mendoza

Thanks for reading!! Have a nice day!

Belén