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Our country offers a wide variety of plants thanks to its diversity
of geography and climate. In the north, on the coast, the vegetation
is nearly non-existant if it weren't for a large variety of cacti.
In more central regions of the north, more vegetation can be found
because of a more humid environment, with the largest part consisting
of shrubbery and trees with hard leaves, a number of species such
as the litre, lun, guayacan, peumo, and many others. Further south,
you will find trees such as the oak, coigüe (evergreen), hazelnut,
canelo, araucaria, and larch.
A large part of the diversity of the flora in Chile is characterized
by the borders of certain areas that contain it, and for that reason
the trees, shrubbery, and other flora we will continue to refer
to correspond to the most representative and characteristic of national
flora.
Many species are in serious risk of extinction. The extraordinary
quality of some native species- like the larch and the araucaria-
because of its slow growth and indiscriminate felling of its forests,
have resulted in the disappearance of forests that are thousands
of years old.
And the process of destruction (or what some call progress) shows
no sign of slowing.
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