Soldaditos

Description:

Family: Tropaeolaceae
Little soldiers, Three-coloured Indian cress
Three-coloured Indian cress has thin, straggly stems growing from a reddish coloured root tuber and extending up to 2 or 3 metres (6 ft 7 in or 9 ft 10 in). The leaves are peltate (with the stalk in the centre), nearly circular with five or six deeply cut lobes. The numerous flowers are borne singly on long wiry stalks growing from the axils of the leaves. They are narrowly funnel-shaped and about 3 centimetres (1.2 in) long. The five sepals are red, orange or yellow tipped with a purple band, and extending backwards in a red spur. The small, greenish-yellow rounded petals have a clawed base. The sepals turn brown after the flowers fall and enclose the two or three, dark brown seeds.
The tubers are well buried and are hardy down to a temperature of about −8 °C (18 °F) and can tolerate short periods of snow cover.

Hierba trepadora perenne, muy polimorfa, cuyos tallos alcanzan una longitud de hasta 4m. Hojas alternas, digitadas de 1,5-2cm de diámetro, compuestas por 5 foliolos lanceolados. Flores solitarias con pedúnculos de 2-3cm; cáliz tubular de color púrpura con amarillo y violeta, presenta un espolón largo, corola compuesta por 5 pétalos desiguales de color amarillo. Estambres 8. El fruto es un cápsula tricoca.

Habitat:

Three-coloured Indian cress grows in the cloud forest on the coastal mountains of northern Chile at 300 to 900 metres (980 to 2,950 ft). Further south it grows in inland temperate forests in the central and Los Lagos regions at varying heights. Here it grows on level ground or north facing slopes in full sun or dappled shade. It can endure periods of drought of up to 10 months in the summer.

Soldadito es endémico de Chile y crece entre Antofagasta y Valdivia (II a X región). Habita enredado en matorrales en lugares soleados, frecuente a la orilla de los caminos.