Ecuador · #1 shrub Often cited as the national flower of Ecuador; known as the “mountaineers’ flower”
Chuquiraga
Chuquiraga jussieui · locally: chuquiragua
The “mountaineers’ flower” – a spiny shrub with orange flowers that brightens the high páramo below Chimborazo and Cotopaxi.
Chuquiragua is a low, stiff shrub of the daisy family, usually growing to 1–1.5 m, with small, leathery, prickly leaves densely covering the shoots. At the tips of its twigs it opens orange or golden-yellow flower heads. It grows in the high-mountain páramo grasslands, usually at 3,500–4,800 m, where it withstands frost, strong winds and intense sunlight. Its nectar feeds the Ecuadorian hillstar (Oreotrochilus chimborazo), one of the highest-living hummingbirds. In folk medicine an infusion of chuquiragua is used for liver complaints and inflammation.
Significance in the country
Every climber heading up Ecuador’s volcanoes comes across it, hence the nickname “flor del andinista”; it is one of the most recognisable plants of the Ecuadorian Andes.
Where it grows
In the páramo along the entire Ecuadorian Andes, above about 3,500 m – including the slopes of Chimborazo, Cotopaxi and Antisana and in Cajas National Park.
More: Wikipedia (en)