Collection Building in the South American Area

There are incredible similarities between California and Chile: both boast dramatic coastlines, towering mountain ranges and a similar climate. These parallels  translate into similarities in plant adaptations and communities, yet the Chilean flora remains comparably under-documented in both scientific literature and herbarium collections.

Last year, the Garden launched a collaboration with partners in Chile, with the goal to enrich and expand our Chilean plant collections, as well as strengthen cooperation in plant conservation, research, education, and ex situ collection management, with a primary focus on the preservation of Chilean flora. The partnership is the result of several years of dialogue and planning between Universidad de Chile Faculty members, Dr. Rosita Scherson and Dr. Nicolás García, and UCBG Director of Collections, Andrew Doran.

We’re excited to share highlights from this endeavor that began last fall when the Garden welcomed Ludovica (Ludo) Santilli, from the Universidad de Chile, for a two-week visit. Ludo holds a master’s degree from the University of Edinburgh and has worked for over a decade with the flora of Chile.

In the fall of 2025, Ludo worked directly with Curator and Conservation Officer Clare Loughran and Horticulturist Logan Babkes to evaluate the Garden’s existing Chilean collections in the South American Area.

Ludo Santilli and Logan Babkes in the South America Collection

Ludo Santilli, Sophia Warsh, and Dr. Isaac Lichter Marck looking at herbarium specimens at the California Academy of Sciences

The visit’s primary objective was to define a strategy for enriching and expanding the collection.

We’re focusing on five key goals to advance our Chilean collections. Filling taxonomic gaps and creating living plant displays that recreate the wild communities experienced firsthand by Clare, Ludo, and Logan. These displays will feature visitor interpretation to enhance public education. Furthermore, the project will support vital conservation efforts through seed banking and the ex-situ maintenance of at-risk species, while continuing to provide scientists with well-documented research material.

Following her visit Ludo organized a field expedition in Chile with Clare and Logan where they visited a number of parks and preserves  in central Chile, conducted seed collections and met with potential partners and collaborators working in research and conservation of Chilean flora.

Map of field expedition sites in central Chile

L to R: Ludo Santilli, Logan Babkes, Matías Gonzalez, Clare Loughran at Santuario de la Naturaleza Cerro Poqui

Says Curator and Conservation Officer Clare Loughran:
“The similarities between California and Chile are remarkable, but Chile is more extreme in that it spans many more latitudes and elevations. Diving deeper into Chilean geography and flora was a unique opportunity to see how plants have adapted to more drastic versions of the evolutionary drivers that we have here. Seeing the composition of plants in Chile was amazing and seeing the parallels with California helped give me a new perspective on our state’s flora. It was a remarkable opportunity to connect with individuals from across Chile’s plant research, horticulture, and conservation communities. Ludo helped us begin to build connections and form relationships with important partners in the region, which I hope will lead to future collaborations!”

While many of the parks they visited contain species already present in our South American collection, it was an invaluable experience to see the plants in habitat.  Clare and Logan were also introduced to many new species and made herbarium specimens and collected seed from some of these new finds. Along with seeing species in habitat, they visited nurseries and botanical gardens to make connections and learn new cultivation techniques.

UCBG Horticulturist Logan Babkes ready to collect specimens in the field.

Says Logan Babkes, who cares for the South American collection:
“Viewing the natural compositions was so inspiring. Observing the wild assemblages of the flora and the plants’ plasticity has been truly enlightening. What an amazing opportunity!”

Long-Term Collaboration Goals
While California’s plants are extensively documented, the fact that Chile’s rich botanical landscape is relatively undocumented presents challenges to ongoing research and conservation efforts. One clear indicator of this disparity is the continued discovery of previously undocumented species. Between just September 2021 and July 2025 alone, 40 new plants were identified for the Chilean flora.

Despite these exciting discoveries, a lack of “baseline data” creates a massive challenge for conservationists. For instance, the Flora of Chile project, a multi-volume floristic series published by the Universidad de Concepción since 1985, remains incomplete, regional floras and field guides are available for only a portion of the country, and studies have highlighted a concerning lack of species-level documentation for the majority of protected areas in continental Chile.

Partnering with fellow Chilean Institutions
Sharing Knowledge and Expertise
Forming the backbone of this collaboration is the EIF Herbarium of the University of Chile under the direction of its curator, Dr.Nicolás García Beguercio. EIF works in close collaboration with The Laboratory of Evolution and Systematics (LES) which is part of the Faculty of Forest Sciences and Nature Conservation at the University.

LES, under the direction of Dr. Rosa Scherson, supports both research and teaching. It focuses primarily on the molecular analysis of biodiversity, especially Chilean native flora. It has recently expanded into new facilities with upgraded molecular infrastructure and sequencing-related capabilities.

EIF maintains a valuable and expanding collection of plant specimens, trains students working in conservation, systematics, and ecology, and actively contributes to taxonomic and systematic research through revisions and the description of new species. The herbarium also maintains strong ties with the broader community through collaborative initiatives with NGOs, foundations, and local conservation groups. EIF currently houses approximately 19,000 accessioned specimens of vascular plants and bryophytes, in addition to an estimated backlog of 6,000 specimens. The collection includes 20 type specimens, 10 of which correspond to species described by researchers affiliated with the institution.

Looking Ahead
Over the coming years, this cross-continental collaboration will ensure that we can continue to expand our knowledge of and preserve the botanical heritage of the Chilean flora. This work isn’t just happening behind closed laboratory doors. Visitors wandering through the UC Botanical Garden can walk among these very plants, experiencing the beauty of Chile’s unique landscape right here in Berkeley.

On the hunt! Logan, Clare and Ludo explore and document the plants at Santuario de la Naturaleza Cerro Poqui