The Rio Huaso runs from the Andean foothills, past Vallenar before reaching the Pacific Ocean at the town of Huasco. Rightly or wrongly, many see the river as a natural approximate border, south of which only members of the Coquimbana complex are found.

The following names refer to plants found south of the Rio Huasco that are members of the Coquimbana complex:

• alticostata

• coquimbana

  • coquimbana var. armata

  • coquimbana var. wagenknechtii

• cupreata

• fiedleriana

• pendulina

• pseudocoquimbana

  • pseudocoquimbana var. vulgata *

  • pseudocoquimbana var. chaniarensis * NOT Copiapoa chaniaralensis

  • pseudocoquimbana var. domeykoensis *

• serenana

• vallenarensis

The fly that spoils the ointment, since 2004, is Copiapoa humilis (Phil.) Hutchison subsp. australis P Hoxey - a southern relic population of a once abundant C. humilis

* Note: These are first descriptions at the rank of variety. These taxa have never been described as species in their own right, although it is not unusual to come across plants labelled, for example, Copiapoa domeykoensis in European nurseries.