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The various Nothofagus species are famous among biogeographers for their very disjunct distribution: Patagonia, Australia, and New Zealand. This was a great puzzle until it was neatly explained -- along with many other geological, biogeographic, and paleontological mysteries -- by the idea of continental drift. Aside from all that, they are attractive trees, sometimes called 'southern beech' or, in Chile, 'oaks'. In harsh, windswept regions they can assume picturesque shapes, as in some of the photos here. These pictures were taken between Parque Nacional Torres del Paine and Puerto Natales, and near Valdivia, in southern Chile. |
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