Flora
In the surroundings of Vacas the famous Puya raimondii, a gigantic, up to 10 m high plant which is considered to be a living fossile but also an endangered species, can be found. It was the French scientist Alcide d'Orbigny (1802–1857) who was the first to discover the puya in the region of Vacas in 1830. Later the Italian biologist Antonio Raimondi (1826–1890) discovered it in the region of Chavín de Huantar during his trips to Peru. In Bolivia - apart from Vacas where these plants are spread on an area of about 1 km² - the only other place to find the Puya raimondii is Comanche mountain in the Caquiaviri Canton, Pacajes Province, La Paz Department. The plants all use to grow on the eastern side of the mountains because they prefer having sun from morning until the middle of the afternoon.
The typical vegetation of this region also includes the following plants:
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The last four thousand years of environmental and vegetation change has been recently reconstructed from the lake sediments of Pilawit'u (Lake Challacaba).
Read more about this topic: Vacas Municipality
Famous quotes containing the word flora:
“A man’s interest in a single bluebird is worth more than a complete but dry list of the fauna and flora of a town.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)