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Polylepis
Also called Queñua And Allies
Polylepis is a genus comprising 44 recognized shrub and tree species, that are endemic to the mid- and high-elevation regions of the tropical Andes, up to 5,000 metres (16,000 ft) above sea level. It is distributed from Venezuela to Patagonia. In Peru, plants in the genus are known as queñual, queuña, or queñoa; in Bolivia, as kewiña; in Ecuador, as yagual; and in Argentina, tabaquillo.
This group is unique in the rose family in that it is predominantly wind-pollinated. They are usually gnarled in shape, but in certain areas some trees are 15–20 m tall and have 2 m-thick trunks. The foliage is evergreen, with dense small leaves, and often having large amounts of dead twigs hanging down from the underside of the canopy.
Tree species in the genus Polylepis are confined to the high tropical South American Andes Mountains, with the most abundant concentrations of Polylepis ranging from northern Venezuela to northern Chile and adjacent Argentina. One known group of extra-tropical populations of Polylepis is distributed in the mountains of Northwestern Argentina. Most species of Polylepis grow best at high elevations between 3500 and 5000 meters. However, there are occurrences of species at altitudes as low as 1800 meters. These low altitude species are mixed with montane forest which indicates that components of the genus could have been present in western South America during the Miocene Period or even earlier. It is extremely rare for tree species to live at such altitudes, making Polylepis one of the highest naturally occurring trees along with the conifers of the Himalayan Mountains. Polylepis racemosa grows as shrubby trees on steep, rocky slopes above cloud forest. Polylepis tarapacana is one that reaches 4,800 m; the highest elevation of tree growth in the world.
Polylepis australis · Polylepis besseri · Polylepis crista-galli · Polylepis hieronymi · Polylepis incana · Polylepis lanuginosa · Polylepis microphylla · Polylepis multijuga · Polylepis neglecta · Polylepis pauta · Polylepis pepei · Polylepis racemosa
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Polylepis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
