Pictures on the road from Santiago del Estero to Miraflores Chaco

[richtrav]

On google maps the trip is a 7 hour drive (without stops), in reality it’s all of a day. The day was hot for late February and exactly like a summer day in Texas. 

White quebracho (Aspidosperma quebracho-blanco) is a common tree around Santiago del Estero

The rustic tala (Celtis tala) is closely related to our native desert hackberry and another common tree almost everywhere

Monk parakeets taking advantage of a dying red quebracho tree

Roadkill on the way to Chaco province. These are the most impressive snakes of the region. 

 

A nice Caesalpinia (Libidibia) paraguariensis near the Chaco border

It still has some blooms on it, unusual for late summer.

The trunk on this particular tree is very colorful 

A nice saucillo (Acanthosyris falcata) growing in the same field

Just over the Chaco border was a gas station with some very robust queen palms, with thick trunks and a bristly looking crown. The willowy tree to the left is probably a Sapium.

This area probably had a good frost last winter, the lapacho trees (Handroanthus heptaphyllus) out in the open had a little dieback. They are quasi-native here, it’s hard to tell where they’re being cultivated and where they are spontaneous

Unusual Capparis near Roque Saenz Peña

Ceiba chodatii left in open fields bears a striking resemblance to the bottle trees (Brachychiton rupestris) left in fields in SE Queensland

One right before the town of Tres Ysletas. All Ceiba seen in the wild appear to be chodatii, with white to yellow flowers

A large lapacho tree at the edge of town only had a few good fruit

In Tres Ysletas and Juan Jose Castelli Copernicia alba is used rather extensively as an ornamental palm. Some in JJC had thick trunks more like a Cuban Copernicia. 

Very unusual cactus growing in Juan Jose Castelli next to a Stetsonia. It must be a giant Echinopsis of some sort, probably a form of rhodotricha

And it doesn’t appear to be a centuries-old specimen dug from the wild either. This is the same planting from Google Street view in 2014:

An unexpected surprise on the way to Miraflores growing in someone’s yard and a preview of things to come

As you approach Miraflores a new palm starts appearing in the brush

In Miraflores the climate is drier than the Santiago-Chaco border but plants still grow well. Ceibas are a popular tree

They are definitely chodatii

 

Philodendron (or whatever it is now) tweedianum is seen everywhere in northern Argentina and is tough as nails. It needs to be grown in the US

Lapacho trees are well adapted I’d say

A Bulnesia bonariensis cultivated here is quite a bit more robust than the ones from farther south and west

Miraflores is a nice town and the end of the line, there’s a simple hotel here that together with the padel courts and one pub serve as the center of things to do in town. The town is breezy and hot but frost still occurs in the winter here, you don’t see Delonix or Ficus outside the center of town. After Miraflores the road turns to dirt and takes you into the heart of the Chaco, provided your car can make it….

 

 

[chinandega81]

Are there any coconuts or mangos around?

[richtrav]

There were some good looking coconuts in Formosa but only in town, most of the country gets annual frost especially the rural areas. Mangos aren’t a popular fruit in Argentina but there were a few trees around. 

This is a rural thermometer on wunderground up near Juan Jose Castelli for the months of June and July 2021. It gets cold in the countryside.

https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/IALMIR3/table/2021-06-31/2021-06-31/monthly

https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/IALMIR3/table/2021-07-31/2021-07-31/monthly

[Neil C]

What are the palms near the end...C.alba?

[richtrav]

Trithrinax biflabellata (schizophylla)