Chuquiraga is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae.Jussieu, Antoine Laurent de. 1789. Genera Plantarum 178 in Latin Chuquiraga Juss. Arboles y arbustos de los Andes del Ecuador. eFloras. The genus is distributed in the Andes from Colombia to Chile, with most species occurring in Patagonia.
These are evergreen shrubs. They have many shapes and sizes of leaves, and two general types of flowers apparently adapted for pollination by hummingbirds and insects.Ezcurra, C. (2002). Phylogeny, morphology, and biogeography of Chuquiraga, an Andean-Patagonian genus of Asteraceae-Barnadesioideae. The Botanical Review 68(1), 153-70. Some species occur at elevations over 4000 meters in the Andes, while others can be found at sea level.Ezcurra, C., et al. (1997). Phylogeny of Chuquiraga sect. Acanthophyllae (Asteraceae-Barnadesioideae), and the evolution of its leaf morphology in relation to climate. Systematic Botany 22(1), 151-63.
Many are of ecological importance because they are dominant plant species in very dry habitat types, and local animals depend on them.Hoeneisen, M., et al. (2000). Constituents of Chuquiraga atacamensis and C. ulicina. Boletín de la Sociedad Chilena de Química 45(1), 49-52. Hummingbirds of the genus Oreotrochilus, the hillstars, rely heavily on these plants, and some species have never been observed on any other plant taxa.Bleiweiss, R. (1982). The northern limit of the hummingbird genus Oreotrochilus in South America. The Auk 99(2), 376-78.
Some species have been used as fuel, as traditional medicines, and as ornamental plants.
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