CORDILLERA DEL CÓNDOR John L. Clark John L. Clark BOTANICAL TREASURES BETWEEN THE ANDES AND THE AMAZON DAVID NEILL

y four botanical companions us carry the gear, food for 10 days and the stature of an adult Shuar warrior. The and I had been hiking uphill plant-collecting supplies. waterfall before us had been the site for Mfor two days, ascending the initiation rites for several generations of steep slopes through epiphyte-laden Raúl Pitiur, the leader of Tinkimints vil- Shuar from Tinkimints. cloud forests, toward the crest of the lage, pointed to a waterfall that emerged Cordillera del Cóndor in south-eastern from the vertical sandstone cliff face The thunderous waterfall was truly an Ecuador near the border with Peru. We below the summit, and plunged 50 m impressive sight, but my gaze drifted up emerged into the sunshine on a ridge into a pool below. “We have been to this to the summit of the mountain above. with low shrubby vegetation. A thousand waterfall many times before”, said Raúl, “What is above the waterfall?” I asked metres below us lay the Shuar village of and he explained the significance of Raúl. “We have never been above the Tinkimints, on the banks of the rushing waterfalls in the traditional Shuar male waterfall”, he replied. So, with the help of Coangos River, with its palm-thatched initiation rites. When a boy reached man- our Shuar hosts, our group of botanists – houses surrounding the village’s grass hood, he was led by the elders to a place José Manzanares, Paul Berry, Lou Jost, airstrip, soccer field and one-room beside a powerful waterfall, where he was schoolhouse. Before us, and still several obliged to fast for several days and then A fantastic richness of plants: (left to hundred metres higher, was the flat- ingest a mind-altering plant, Brugmansia right), Guzmania pearcei (family Bromel- topped summit of this part of the (Solanaceae), well known to many indige- iaceae), Bejaria zamorae (Ericaceae), Cóndor range, known to the Shuar as nous peoples in tropical America for its Besleria comosa (Gesneriaceae). Cerro Ijiach Naint or Mountain of the hallucinogenic properties. Under the Grubs. With us were nine Shuar influence of the drug, the young initiate View from lower montane forest on companions, the entire able-bodied male had a vision in which he gained strength the northeastern-most spur of the population of Tinkimints, who were and arutam or ‘soul-power’, from the Cordillera del Cóndor. The Santiago leading us to our destination and helping power of the waterfall, and thus attained River meanders through the vast plain of lowland Amazonia.

July 2005 PLANTTALK 41 17 (from left to right) Axinaea sp. Betty Patterson and myself – climbed up (Melastomataceae), Pitcairnia dodsonii the last cliff face, using ropes to aid our (Bromeliaceae), Drymonia sp. ascent, to the summit of Cerro Ijiach (Gesneriaceae). Naint, in search of botanical treasures. All photos by John L. Clark We were not only the first botanists to reach the summit on that day in March 2001, but with our hosts we were the first The northern part of the Cordillera humans, in living memory at least, to set del Cóndor region, along the Ecuador- foot on that mountain top. The vegeta- Peru border. The Cordillera extends tion we found was a very dense, low 100 km further south. scrub dominated by shrubs and treelets with small, thick sclerophyllous leaves; in CORDILLERA DEL CÓNDOR particular, several species of Clusia were BOTANICAL TREASURES BETWEEN THE ANDES AND THE AMAZON most abundant. Terrestrial Weinmannia auriformis (Cunoniaceae), orchids, such as Sobralia ciliata a newly discovered species. with its tall cane-like stems and showy purple blooms, flourished them on a map of South America. at the cliff-edge. As I struggled Relatively few people, however, realize up the rock-face and emerged on that between the Andes and the Amazon the summit, I noticed a low there is a series of lower mountain ranges, shrub with clusters of small separated from the main Andean chain SHUAR TERRITORY white flowers and was surprised by deep river valleys, and forming a to realize that it was a species of discontinuous chain of cordilleras east of Weinmannia (Cunoniaceae) – a the Andes and at the western margin of genus that is usually a tall canopy the Amazon lowlands. These ‘sub- tree in Andean cloud forests. Our Andean cordilleras’ include, from north excitement was palpable as we to south, the Cordillera de la Macarena in made our way through the dense Colombia, the Galeras and Cutucú vegetation on the summit, mak- ranges in Ecuador, the Cordillera del ing collections and photograph- Cóndor along the Ecuador-Peru border, ing the plants. José and Betty and the Yanachaga and Cordillera Azul searched for bromeliads, Lou for ranges in central Peru. The main Andes orchids, and Paul and I for what- are composed mostly of volcanic and ever else we could find in flower metamorphic rocks, but the sub-Andean or fruit. Several of the plant ranges are largely made up of sedimentary species found on that sandstone rocks – limestones and especially sand- summit were new to science and stones. Igneous intrusive formations, have been published in botanical with deposits of gold, copper and other journals, and others are in the minerals, also form part of these ranges. publication process. Our field research in recent years seems to suggest that the sub-Andean cordilleras An overlooked have certain geological and biological mountain range features that set them apart from the Andes and the Amazon, and they merit Most educated people around special attention. These mountain ranges the world have heard of the are mostly remote and difficult to get to. Andes Mountains and the They are also some of the last large areas Amazon Basin, and can point to on earth where numerous plant species

18 PLANTTALK 41 July 2005 (from left to right) Guzmania gracilior began inventories of the flora of (Bromeliaceae), Alloplectus panamensis the Cordillera del Cóndor region (Gesneriaceae), Stilpnophyllum oell- in 1990, but for most of the gaardii (Rubiaceae). All photos by John L. Clark 1990s border conflicts interrupted the work. We resumed fieldwork still remain unknown to science and that in 2000, with initial support from are just beginning to be explored for their the National Geographic Society. plant diversity. Recent explorations have With botanists from the universi- also begun to reveal a fascinating and ties of Loja in Ecuador and unexpected biogeographical connection Tr ujillo in Peru, and with the between these ranges and the Guyana cooperation of the Shuar commu- Shield area in north-eastern South nities, we are now exploring rep- America. Some genera once thought to resentative areas throughout the occur only on the sandstone mountains Cóndor region in both countries. J.M. Manzanares of the Guayana region have now been On a ridge at c. 1800 m, the vegeta- found as disjuncts on the sandstone parts During 2002–2004, Fundación Natura, tion changes from tall cloud forest of the sub-Andean cordilleras, but not an Ecuadorian conservation organization, below to very dense dwarf forest above. anywhere else in the Andean region. worked with the Shuar communities in Botanical exploration is turning up many the Cordillera del Cóndor region to help endemic plant species in these mountain develop plans for conservation and ranges, species that occur in only one or a sustainable development in the Shuar ter- few of the sub-Andean cordilleras. ritory. The work included environmental assessments of the region, development of The Cordillera del Cóndor is the longest a computerized regional Geographic and tallest of the sub-Andean ranges. Information System (GIS) to aid in Situated along the border between regional planning, and a series of meet- Ecuador and Peru, it stretches about 150 ings and workshops with the Shuar repre- km and reaches a maximum height of sentatives. During the same period, J.M. Manzanares 2900 m. The precise location of the bor- Missouri Botanical Garden, with zoolo- In a field camp in cloud forest, a der in this region was in dispute between gists from the Wildlife Conservation team of botanists and Shuar parabiolo- the two countries for more than a century, Society, trained four young Shuar, togeth- gists prepare plant specimens and leading to armed conflicts in 1941, 1981 er with four Awá from northwestern press them in newspapers. and 1995, and was only finally agreed in a Ecuador, in the principles and methods treaty signed in 1998. of conservation biology as applied to Ecuadorian postgraduate botany their tropical forest homelands. The goal interns, Shuar ethnobotanists and The Cóndor region is part of the ances- of this training programme, supported by others in cloud forest on the ascent to tral homeland of the Shuar ethnic group. the Liz Claiborne & Art Ortenberg the Cordillera del Cóndor crest. About 10% of the Shuar population of Foundation, was to enable the four Shuar 80,000 people in Ecuador live in and ‘parabiologists’ – Tuntiak Katan, Abel near the Cordillera, in dispersed villages Wisum, Camilo Kajekai and Gilberto in the Coangos River watershed as well as Tsuink – to serve their Federation and along the larger Zamora, Nangaritza and communities in programmes of environ- Santiago rivers. The Shuar communities mental management and conservation of are organized politically into the Shuar plants, animals and other natural resources. Federation, which represents them on a national level in Ecuador. A new protected area Botanists from National Herbarium of The Shuar communities in the Cordillera Ecuador and Missouri Botanical Garden del Cóndor region and their regional

July 2005 PLANTTALK 41 19 John L. Clark

Pitcairnia bakeri (Bromeliaceae), a governing body, the Circunscripción The prospects for conservation in the new species of Macrocarpaea Territorial Shuar Arutam (CTSHA), have Cordillera del Cóndor, however, are (Gentianaceae), Sphyrospermum decided to declare a large portion of their clouded by the spectre of large-scale lanceolatum (Ericaceae). territory as a Shuar Indigenous Protected open-pit copper mining, which is being Area, to be administered as a biological proposed by multinational mining Dense, scrubby dwarf forest with reserve by the Shuar themselves, along the companies who are also actively exploring trees just 3–5 m tall on flat-topped lines of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. In the region. Portions of the Cóndor sandstone mountains at c. 2000 m. strictly protected ‘core areas’, harvesting of region, outside of the Shuar communities Many of the trees are local endemics. plants and animals, and other human and outside the sandstone areas that are extractive activities, would be prohibited; not mineral-rich, have been colonized by in the ‘buffer zones’, sustainable, non- individual gold miners using primitive destructive activities including traditional methods, including the use of environ- Shuar settlements, would be allowed. The mentally hazardous mercury to purify the proposed protected area is large, covering gold ore. Copper mining, if carried out in some 162,000 ha that includes the entire the region, would be on a much larger Coangos River watershed and 23 Shuar scale, and would have an impact on larger villages with about 4,000 people. areas. One area where a multinational company is advancing plans for copper The Fundación Natura and Missouri mining is outside the Shuar territory in Botanical Garden have now joined forces the Cóndor region; if Ecuador’s Ministry with the Shuar communities, to help of Petroleum and Mining approves the make the Shuar Protected Area a reality. plans, an open-pit copper mine covering Herrania cuatrecasana (Sterculiaceae) With participation of the trained Shuar hundreds of hectares may be opened in is an unbranched, small treelet of the parabiologists, we are helping the com- the coming years. Another area where lowland Amazon forest with flowers munities develop environmental manage- copper mining is still in the exploratory along the trunk. It is a relative of the ment plans for each village. These plans stages, however, is in the heart of the cacao (Theobroma cacao). will include land-use zoning and regula- proposed Shuar Protected Area, near the tions for hunting, fishing and timber and village of Warints in the Coangos River plant harvesting to be adopted and implemented by all the communities. The Shuar parabiologists are helping to Pitcairnia bakiorum (Bromeliaceae), a train six more young Shuar as ‘communi- new species discovered and published ty environmental monitors’, who will by José Manzanares, is known only assist in the implementation and moni- from this population growing on the toring of the management plans. bare sandstone cliff beside a waterfall on Cerro Injiach Naint. The proposed Shuar Protected Area has yet to be recognized officially by the government of Ecuador, but the concept

of a nature reserve administered by the J.M. Manzanares indigenous people that are the ancestral inhabitants and owners of the land, applying modern scientific principles and methods of conservation biology as well as the indigenous culture’s traditional low-impact land use practices, is a model that could be used in many areas of the American tropics. John L. Clark

20 PLANTTALK 41 July 2005 valley. An open-pit mine in this area, species yet unknown to with its associated roads and other infra- science of any place on structure, would have a huge environ- Earth. We have docu- mental impact in the Shuar territory. mented about 3,000 Although the Shuar government species of vascular plants (CTSHA) opposed copper mining devel- in the region, and species opments in their territory, the below- new to science are being ground mineral rights belong to the state, published each year as not the communities or individual land- taxonomic specialists owners, so the final decision on whether work through the speci- to develop copper mines in Shuar territory mens we’ve collected. is up to the government of Ecuador. The upper Nangaritza River in the Although our plant explorations in the southern part of the Cordillera. region are still very preliminary, some Continuing plant exploration patterns of the distribution of the vegeta- tion and flora on the sandstone and non- CORDILLERA DEL CÓNDOR BOTANICAL TREASURES BETWEEN THE Meanwhile, we continue to explore the sandstone parts of the Cóndor region are ANDES AND THE AMAZON Cordillera del Cóndor for its plant diver- beginning to emerge. The sandstone areas sity. During the next three years, we occur as island-like fragments ranging At 2000 m, the patterns of flora and intend to cover as many areas as possible from a few hectares to tens of thousands vegetation on sandstone vs. non-sand- in the Peruvian portion as well as in of hectares in size, at elevations from 300 stone substrates are quite different. The Ecuador, to collect herbarium specimens m in the lowlands to the summits of the sandstone outcrops at this elevation have and make them available for study. This Cordillera del Cóndor at nearly 3000 m, a dense, low scrub-like vegetation, about work – supported by grants from the US within a matrix of non-sandstone, 3 m tall, with a few emergent palms and National Science Foundation and the igneous or limestone substrates. The flora tree ferns. Some of the shrubby domi- Taylor Fund for Ecological Research – of the sandstone fragments, therefore, can nants in this vegetation are locally involves botanists from Missouri be studied using the concepts of island endemic species of genera that normally Botanical Garden, the National Herb- biogeography. form tall trees in the canopy of Andean arium of Ecuador and the universities of cloud forests, such as Weinmannia Loja in southern Ecuador and Trujillo in At about 1000 m elevation, the forest on (Cunoniaceae) and Clethra (Clethraceae); northern Peru, as well as the Shuar para- sandstone is very dense and low, with on the sandstone table mountains, these biologists, and the Shuar government and pole-like small trees forming a canopy same genera form dwarf, shrubby plants the communities in the Cóndor region. only 6–10 m tall. The dominant tree with very small, thick leaves – evidently species of the sandstone forest, it appears, an adaptation to the nutrient-poor sand- We are still a long way from a thorough are genera that are absent from anywhere stone substrate and very wet climate of knowledge of the plants of the Cóndor else in the Andes or the sub-Andean the mountain tops. The non-sandstone region. Many of the new species cordilleras, but are disjunct from the vast forests at 2000 m in the Cordillera del described since our first visit in 1990 are sandstone areas of the Guyana Shield Cóndor, on the other hand, resemble the still known from only one locality. The region: Digomphia (Bignoniaceae), typical cloud forests of the nearby eastern island-like pattern of the sandstone areas Pagamea (Rubiaceae) and Stenopadus slopes of the Andes at the same elevation. surrounded by non-sandstone substrate (Asteraceae). The non-sandstone forest at suggests that some species may be restrict- 1000 m elevation, in contrast, is more We have not yet managed to reach the ed to a single sandstone mountain top; open, with much larger, taller trees form- sandstone fragments at the highest eleva- others may occur on numerous sandstone ing a canopy of about 25 m, and the for- tions – nearly 3,000 m – but our team of ‘islands’ within the Cóndor, while yet est is much more diverse with tree genera botanists and Shuar parabiologists hope others extend further south to the and species that are typical of the lower, to climb these areas in the coming year Cordillera Azul and other sandstone eastern slopes of the Andes and adjacent and discover yet more botanical marvels mountains in central Peru. We can only areas of the upper Amazon basin. of the Cordillera del Cóndor. O make a wild guess as to the total number of flowering plant species in the Cóndor David Neill (left) is a curator of Missouri region. Botanical Garden, and honorary curator of the National Herbarium of Ecuador. One botanist who has visited the He has lived in Ecuador and studied the Cordillera, Robin Foster of Chicago’s flora there since 1985. Field Museum of Natural History, has written that the Cóndor region may have The growing list of the flora of the the “richest flora of any similar-sized area Cordillera del Cóndor is posted and updated anywhere in the New World”. We believe on Missouri Botanical Garden’s website, at: that it undoubtedly has one of the high- http://mobot.mobot.org/W3T/Search/ est concentrations of flowering plant Ecuador/projscdc.html

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