Argylia radiata is an Atacama Desert plant whose flowers are usually orange or yellowish-orange, but other variants do occur. One of the most striking is this dark red form found growing on steep hillsides near the Chinchilla Reserve east of Illapel. Apparently uncommon, this would make a great garden plant for arid USDA zones 9 and 10, as would the normal and much more widespread bright orange/yellow forms. We didn’t see the pink or pale yellow types that evidently also exist in this handsome species. But knowing they are out there, I will be watching for them if and when I next return to Chile.
This was my first view of the dark red form of Argylia radiata in Chile, hidden as it was up the hillside amidst dense grasses and shrubbery. At that point I did not know what it was at all, just that it was different.
Moments later, others also caught my eye a bit farther upslope.
Curious as to what they were, Greg offered to go up the hill and look. I was not able to do that because I was wearing shorts, and thickets of stinging nettle-like Loasa tricolor plants blockaded the way. Greg struggled through them with his long pants, but was still stung multiple times through the fabric on his way up, leaving a rash that lasted a day or two. The Loasas are the yellow and red flowers all over the hillside, standing up to 6 feet tall after a wet winter.
Ultimately Greg did make it to these beautiful plants, which as noted were still unknown to us since none of us were very familiar with Atacama Desert flora, having just arrived in Chile the day before. The vegetation was unusually dense for the Atacama in October 2017, thanks to heavy rains the autumn and winter beforehand. The nearby city of Illapel, Chile received about 10 inches of rain (250 mm) between May and July 2017, which is more than double the normal average for the region. This led to explosive growth of numerous plants in what is otherwise a very arid region.
I was grateful for Greg’s efforts to bring the Argylia down to me so that I could photograph it better. He was better dressed for the stinging Loasas than I was, but he also paid a price for it, for which I thank him.
A close-up of the red Argylia. This would make a highly attractive wildflower for arid and semiarid regions of the US, probably in USDA Zones 9 and 10. The much more common bright orange and golden varieties would too.
Detail of the leaves of Argylia radiata. Ferny and deeply divided, the foliage is also an attractive feature of the plants. Argylia radiata is a member of the bignonia family (Bignoniaceae) and dies back to a fleshy rootstock during dry spells. The plants may be dormant for 2 or more years at a time if not enough rain falls to encourage them to activate into growth and bloom.
Wenbo points to a patch of Argylia radiata that he was photographing a bit earlier. He too had to push past stands of nettlesome Loasa tricolor, but it was generally a bit more open farther up the hill, although loose and slippery rock scree still made it challenging to access them. Plants reached about 5 feet tall (1.7 meters) which is probably above average for the species thanks to the preceding wet winter.
The white flowers are shrubs of Cordia decandra, and the golden composites are Flourensia thurifera. They, too, were blooming super-abundantly thanks to the generous rains a few months prior. I was at this same locale in October 2016, which was a dry year, and there was virtually nothing in bloom, and only the woody perennials were visible. The argylias, loasas, and numerous other herbaceous perennials and annuals were all dormant as seeds or underground roots. What an amazing difference!
According to online information at the wonderful website www.chileflora.com, Argylia radiata also comes in other colors such as pale yellow and pink, in addition to this deep red and the usual orange or yellowish orange. As stated above, we never saw any colors other than the typical orange and this one, but it would be worth looking out for the others when in Chile.