''Gomortega keule'' (syn. ''G. nitida'';
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
names ''keule'', ''queule'', and ''hualhual'') is a tree native to
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
. It is the sole species of the genus ''Gomortega'' and, according to the
APG IV system
The APG IV system of flowering plant classification is the fourth version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy for flowering plants (angiosperms) being developed by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG). It was publishe ...
of 2016 (unchanged from the APG systems of
2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
,
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
and
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...
), of the
monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...
family Gomortegaceae, assigned to the order
Laurales
The Laurales are an order of flowering plants. They are magnoliids, related to the Magnoliales.
The order includes about 2500-2800 species from 85-90 genera, which comprise seven families of trees and shrubs. Most of the species are tropical and ...
in the clade
magnoliids
Magnoliids (or Magnoliidae or Magnolianae) are a clade of flowering plants. With more than 10,000 species, including magnolias, nutmeg, bay laurel, cinnamon, avocado, black pepper, tulip tree and many others, it is the third-largest group of angio ...
.
Description
![Gomortega keule fruits 001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Gomortega_keule_fruits_001.jpg)
Evergreen trees, aromatic, gray bark with shallow longitudinal fissures. The leaves are petiolate, simple, entire, obovate to lanceolate, coriaceous. The stems have unilacunar nodes and with two foliar traces. The branches are quadrangular.
The edible fruit is a uni or
trilocular yellow drupe, usually with 1 (-2) seeds, fleshy mesocarp, pleasant, stony endocarp. There are 1-2 seeds per fruit, with abundant, oily endosperm, large embryo, dicotyledonous.
The chromosome number is n = 21, 2n = 42.
Distribution
''Gomortega keule'' grows only in a very narrow habitat range in coastal
Central Chile
Central Chile (''Zona central'') is one of the five natural regions into which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950. It is home to a majority of the Chilean population and includes the three largest metropolitan areas—Santiago, Valparaís ...
, including the
Maulino forest and parts of the
Chilean matorral
The Chilean Matorral (NT1201) is a terrestrial ecoregion of central Chile, located on the west coast of South America. It is in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, part of the Neotropical realm.
Matorral is typically charac ...
.
[C. Michael Hogan & World Wildlife Fund. 2013]
Chilean matorral. ed. M.McGinley. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment
Washington DC It is a characterisc tree species of the
Maulino forest alongside ''
Nothofagus glauca
''Nothofagus glauca'', commonly known as hualo or roble Maulino, is a species of plant in the family Nothofagaceae. It is a deciduous tree endemic to Chile. It grows from 34° to 37° South latitude. ''N. glauca'' was proposed to be renamed ''L ...
'', ''
Nothofagus leonii'' and ''
Nothofagus alessandri
''Nothofagus alessandrii'', the ruil, is a species of plant in the family Nothofagaceae, commonly known as the southern beeches. It is endemic to Chile, occurring chiefly in the Chilean matorral ecoregion. It is threatened by habitat loss. The s ...
''.
[
The species is endangered of extinction due to ]overharvesting
Overexploitation, also called overharvesting, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Continued overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource, as it will be unable to replenish. The term app ...
, clearing the forests where it is found for agriculture and silviculture.
''Gomortega keule'' produces a yellow edible sweet fruit about in diameter, harvested for making a kind of marmalade
Marmalade is a fruit preserve made from the juice and peel of citrus fruits boiled with sugar and water. The well-known version is made from bitter orange. It is also made from lemons, limes, grapefruits, mandarins, sweet oranges, bergamo ...
.
See also
*''Beilschmiedia berteroana
''Beilschmiedia berteroana'' (southern acorn tree, ''belloto del sur'' in Spanish) is a threatened evergreen tree in the family Lauraceae native to Chile at 35 to 37°S.
Description
It can measure 30 m in height and one metre in diameter. The ...
''
References
External links
*
*
The species
*''Gomortega keule'' in Encyclopedia of the Chilean Flora
Information on ''Gomortega keule''
(in Spanish)
* Listed as Endangered (EN A1cd v2.3)
(in Spanish)
Project developed in Chile on ''Gomortega keule''
(in Spanish)
(in Spanish)
The family
in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards).
The families of flowering plants
: descriptions, illustrations, identification, information retrieval.'' Version: 27 April 2006. http://delta-intkey.com .
e-floras
NCBI Taxonomy Browser
links at CSDL, Texas
{{Taxonbar, from=Q131312
Monotypic Laurales genera
Chilean Matorral
Trees of Chile
Endangered plants
Taxa named by Henri Ernest Baillon
Taxa named by Juan Ignacio Molina