Catamarca Province Plata was created in 1776, Catamarca obtained the title of "Subintendencia" under the Salta intendency. In 1821, the province claimed its autonomy, and Nicolás Avellaneda y Tula (grandfather of Nicolás Avellaneda) was elected as the first governor of the province. The name is believed to come either from Quechua "cata" 'slope' and "marca" 'fortress', or from Aymara "catán" 'small' and "marca" 'town'. Catamarca remained isolated from the rest of Argentina by its mountains until 1888, when the rapidly expanding railways first appeared in the province. Attracting immigrants with its spacious, fertile valleys and dry, agreeable weather, Catamarca was soon favored
Dicentra formosa on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. Subsp. "oregana" grows in a small area of southern Oregon and northern California in serpentine soils in the Siskiyou Mountains. These subspecies are also distinguished by appearance: "Dicentra formosa" is widely grown as a garden plant, and several cultivars have been developed. Those marked have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit: There are several hybrid cultivars involving "D. formosa", the eastern American species "D. eximia" and the Japanese species "D. peregrina": The Pacific bleeding-heart ("Dicentra formosa" subsp. "formosa") was first noted by Europeans when the Scottish surgeon and naturalist