Ñirre, Nothofagus antarctica. The iconic tree of the southern continents

The Ñirre, Nothofagus antarctica , part of the forests of Nothofagus (popularly known as robles, ruiles, coihues, lengas, raulies and hualos) of Gondwanic origin (from Gondwana , the name given to an ancient continental block, one of the two supercontinents that, together with Laurasia, grouped the entire land mass ago About 200 million years ago, it was divided into new blocks: Gondwana East (present-day Antarctica, India, Madagascar and Australia) and Gondwana West (South America and Africa).

forests of Nothofagus

These trees would have arrived/diversified on the Antarctic Peninsula around 80 million years ago, and would have crossed into South America around 68 million years ago.

Fossilized Nothofagus leaves have been discovered in various paleontological expeditions on the white continent and in places such as Cerro Guido, in the Magallanes and Chilean Antarctic Region, along with findings of the first dinosaurs.

Nothofagus leaf imprints of more
of 66 million years. INACH

It is currently distributed between the Maule and Magallanes regions, a tree typical of the temperate forests of Chile and Argentina. With ovate, small, and irregularly serrated deciduous leaves, they turn reddish-yellow in autumn, it has solitary male and female flowers. It can reach 20 meters in height, it is adapted to low temperatures and strong winds that often shape its "staggered" position.

They have survived volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and now fires.
They are the survivors of this era.🌳

** The Nothofagus or notofagáceas are a family of arboreal species that has a single genus: Nothofagus.
It comes from the Latin words nothus (false), and fagus (beech), which means "false beeches", which existed in Europe. Carl Ludwig Blume German-Dutch naturist coined the name of Nothofagus in 1850 to these trees that he knew on their lands. The Fagus, which were oaks and beeches.