Giant Leaves in a Cool Southern Rainforest

Giant Leaves in a Cool Southern Rainforest is an original illustration set in Valdivian Rainforest, Chile. It lies in mid-latitudes, where the climate is oceanic — mild, wet through the year.

Huge round nalca leaves crowd a rain-dark lakeshore beneath tall southern beech trees coated in moss. Dense bamboo fills the understory, low cloud hangs over the water, and a distant snow-capped volcanic cone appears through a narrow opening in the evergreen forest.

Why does a cool lakeshore forest contain such lush, almost tropical-looking foliage?

Moist Pacific winds reach southern Chile throughout the year and rise against the Andes, producing a cool but extremely wet climate. Oceanic temperatures limit severe cold, allowing evergreen broadleaf plants, giant herbs, mosses, and bamboo to flourish beside Nothofagus forest. The combination of temperate rain, southern flora, lake, and snow cone marks the Valdivian rainforest rather than a lowland tropical jungle.

Terpano is a free daily geography puzzle. You study one original illustration, place a pin on a borderless terrain map, and see how close you were. There is no account and no sign-up; progress stays in your own browser. It plays in 11 languages.