The flora of Uruguay consists of 2,500

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

distributed among 150 native and foreign biological families. Approximately 80% of Uruguay is prairie, with grasses predominating. Uruguay is primarily a grass-growing land, with vegetation that is essentially a continuation of the

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

Pampas The Pampas (from the qu, pampa, meaning "plain") are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and Brazil ...

. Forest areas are relatively small. Trees grow in bunches. Forested areas are much smaller than in the pampas, but contain a mix of

hardwood Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...

s and

softwood file:Pinus sylvestris wood ray section 1 beentree.jpg, Scots Pine, a typical and well-known softwood Softwood is wood from gymnosperm trees such as conifers. The term is opposed to hardwood, which is the wood from angiosperm trees. The main diff ...

s, while

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

were imported from Australia. Ceibo Uruguay

"Ceibo", or ''

Erythrina cristagalli ''Erythrina crista-galli'', often known as the cockspur coral tree, is a flowering tree in the family Fabaceae, native to Argentina, Uruguay, southern Brazil and Paraguay. It is widely planted as a street or garden tree in other countries, no ...

'', is the national flower.

Herbs

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

contains many herbs, ferns, and flowers.

Riverine forests

Natural forests in Uruguay mainly grow near rivers in the countryside. The native forests are composed of more than 500 native species, including palms. The most abundant are "sauce criollo" (''

Salix humboldtiana ''Salix humboldtiana'', called Humboldt's willow, is a tree species of willow native to North and South America, growing along watercourses. Some authorities consider it a synonym of '' Salix chilensis'', which Molina described in 1782. Willdeno ...

''), "sarandí colorado" (''

Cephalanthus glabratus ''Cephalanthus glabratus'' is a species of flowering plant in the coffee family, Rubiaceae, that is native to South America. A common local name is sarandí colorado. It was described by (Spreng.) K.Schum. and published in ''Flora Brasiliensis 6 ...

''), "sarandí blanco" (''

Phyllanthus sellowianus ''Phyllanthus'' is the largest genus in the plant family Phyllanthaceae. Estimates of the number of species in this genus vary widely, from 750David J. Mabberley. 2008. ''Mabberley's Plant-Book.'' third edition (2008). Cambridge University P ...

'') and "mataojos" (''

Pouteria salicifolia ''Pouteria'' is a genus of flowering trees in the gutta-percha family, Sapotaceae. The genus is widespread throughout the tropical regions of the world. It includes the canistel ('' P. campechiana''), the mamey sapote ('' P. sapota''), and the lu ...

'').

Natural prairie

The natural prairie in Uruguay constitutes about (80% of the country) and contains some 2000 species including 400 grass species. The prairie includes Canelones, Colonia, San Jose,

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and th ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Lavalleja Lavalleja () is a department of Uruguay. Its capital is Minas. It is located in the southeast of the country, bordered to the north by the department of Treinta y Tres to the east with Rocha, to the south with Canelones and Maldonado, and to ...

and Soriano. In the prairies "Tala" (''

Celtis tala ''Celtis tala'' (or ''Celtis ehrenbergiana''), known as tala, is a medium size deciduous tree, native to tropical and subtropical South America. With small to medium-sized spines, its one of the main components of the Gran Chaco prairies and cer ...

''), "Molle rastrero" (''

Schinus longifolius ''Schinus'' is a genus of flowering trees and tall shrubs in the sumac family, Anacardiaceae. Members of the genus are commonly known as pepper trees. The Peruvian pepper tree ('' Schinus molle'') is the source of the spice known as pink pep ...

''), "Espina amarilla" ('' Berberis laurina'') and "Coronilla" ('' Scutia buxifolia'') thrive, and ''

Cortaderia selloana ''Cortaderia selloana'' is a species of flowering plant in the Poaceae family. It is referred to by the common name pampas grass, and is native to southern South America, including the Pampas region after which it is named. Etymology ''Cortade ...

'' can be found.

Native bushes

In the valleys, bush lands dominated by shrubs instead of trees or grasses predominate. Common native bushes include ('' Scutia buxifolia''), "Arrayán" (''

Blepharocalyx salicifolius ''Blepharocalyx'' is a genus of plant in family Myrtaceae first described as a genus in 1854. It is native to South America and the West Indies.McVaugh, R. 1989. Myrtaceae. In: Dicotyledoneae - Part 2. Flora of the Lesser Antilles, Leeward and W ...

''), "Chal-Chal" ('' Allophyllus edulis''), and "Guayabo Colorado" (''

Eugenia cisplatensis ''Eugenia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. It has a worldwide, although highly uneven, distribution in tropical and subtropical regions. The bulk of the approximately 1,100 species occur in the New World tropics, ...

'').

Gallery

File:PampasGrass.jpg, Pampas grass File:Pradera y bosque de ribera Uruguay.JPG, Prairie and forest in San José File:Río Queguay 02.JPG, River forest near

Río Queguay The Queguay Grande River is a river of Uruguay. See also *List of rivers of Uruguay This is a list of rivers in Uruguay. This list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries indented under each larger stream's name. All rivers i ...

File:Bosque Río Queguay 01.JPG, National park, espinillos,

File:Bosque de algarrobos Uruguay.JPG, National Park, Prosopis spp. File:Bosque quebrada Uruguay.JPG, A creek forest, near Valle Edén

References

External links

national flower of Uruguay: Ceibo ErythrinaGrupo Guayubira en Defensa del Monte IndigenaElUruguayo.com Flora Geografía del Uruguay EnciclopediaLa Flora de Uruguay Easyviajar.com
{{Uruguay topics