FLORA IN JUJUY

Here we can find almost the entire vegetation of the bio geographic areas of Salta, except for the mountain flora.

Basal or Transition Forest
Called transition for being situated between the forest proper and the dry woods of El Chaco, on the plains at the foot of the sierras and on the low mountain ranges. The main trees in this formation are the white sage, the spear sage, the white tipa, the jacaranda, the red cebil, the horco cebil and the pau d'arco, among other species.

Mountain or Misty Forest
The misty forest developes on the Eastern slopes of the sub Andean sierras, above the previous formation. They make for an impenetrable forest mass, usually covered by clouds during the Southern Hemisphere's summer and the beginning of autumn, which turns it into the most humid formation of them all, with a precipitation of up to 3000 mm annually.

These characteristics cause a gloomy interior environment propitious for the development of lianas, creepers and epiphytes that intertwine and live over the trunks and tree branches.

Dominant trees in here are taller than those at the Basal Forest and they can reach heights of 30 m. This group of giants is conformed by the laurel of the slope, whose trunk can be 2.50 m in diameter, the horco peppertree or muddy sage, the crossbred walnut tree, with edible nuts, and numerous mirtáceas, the family of the myrtles and eucalyptuses, such as the mato, the guil, the horco mato, alpa mato, etc. When myrtles are present in abundance, they define the formation known as Forest of Mirtáceas.

Mountain Forest
This formation must endure cold and dry winters, and scarce rains of scarcely 400 mm a year. Three types of forests can be distinguished here: those of pine trees of the hill, those of alders and those of Queñoa. They can be blended but they tend to form almost pure communities. The pine tree of the hill is the only conifer that grows in North-eastern Argentina. The alder thrives on steep slopes and the Queñoa can be found at heights of up to 3000 m of altitude on rocky walls They grow up to 6 m high.

Mountain Fields
They are above the Mountain Forests and their flora is entirely formed by grasses and other herbaceous that flourish during the rainy seasons, thus conferring the landscape an unparalleled beauty.

High Andean Region
The vegetation of the high mountains has an extended developing area in the Northwestern part of the Province. There is also this kind of vegetation at altitudes above 4500 m in the sierra of Santa Victoria, to the East. It is typical for having small shrubs which resist the heat of the day and the cold of the night. The hard grasslands are typical, along with creeper bushes such as the yaretilla, the cushion plant and the poposa.

Pre Puna or Highland
The vegetation existing in the so-called Pre Puna is unique to the ravine of Humahuaca. The most usual elements of the flora are the thistles, high cacti with thorny arms rising to the sky.