“…the country is hilly & entirely clothed in thick wood…incomparably more beautiful then those of T. del Fuego... Chiloe…enjoys a very uniform temperature & an atmosphere saturated with moisture…the soil... very fertile; hence arises the teeming luxuriance of the forests. ..This resemblance to Tropical scenery is chiefly attributed to a... Bamboo which twines among the trees…to this may be added some large ferns, the trees also are all evergreens, & the stems are variously coloured white, & red,&c. This walk called to my mind all the delights of the sublime scenery of Brazil.”
Charles Darwin The Journal of a Voyage in H.M.S. Beagle
June 29th 1834
Further reading: Porter, D. 1999. Charles Darwin’s Chilean plant collections. Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 72: 181-200
