FLORA IN LA RIOJA

The vegetation is characterised by its scarcity, typical of an arid warm weather. Just a few herbaceous plants grow amongst the crags of the mountain area of the Northwest, defying the altitude, the lack of water, the ill weather and the poor soil. Bushes that can withstand droughts, and tough trees that form sparse woods, typical of the Argentine mountains, grow in the sierra ravines in the centre of the Province. Talas, breas, pichanas, brooms, various cacti and espinillos of twisted trunks and thorny branches live here. Woods of chañares and huge thistles also populate this dry area.

Hard and resistant grasses grow on the sandy soils of the Southeastern area along with some shrubs, such as the olivillo. On the other hand, the jume, the sampa and the cachiyuyo flourish on salty soils.

The last concentrations of the bush called chica prosper in the shape of tiny hills in the most secluded zones. The entire area of plains and flatlands is covered, though not continuously, by the jarilla, a thornless shrub with yellow flowers and small, resinous, hard to digest leafs that protect it keeping herbivores away. The presence of locust trees is predominant in small canyons or deep creeks that cut in the Sierra de Los Tarjados by the Talampaya Stream, together with chañares, breas, garabatos and espinillos.