''Drimys winteri'', the winter's bark or canelo, is a slender tree in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Winteraceae, growing up to tall. It is native to the Magellanic and

Valdivian temperate rain forests The Valdivian temperate forests (NT0404) is an ecoregion on the west coast of southern South America, in Chile and Argentina. It is part of the Neotropical realm. The forests are named after the city of Valdivia. The Valdivian temperate rainforest ...

of Chile and Argentina, where it is a dominant tree in the coastal evergreen forests. It is found below between latitude 32° south and Cape Horn at latitude 56°. In its southernmost natural range it can tolerate temperatures down to . The plant is renowned for its

phenotypic plasticity Phenotypic plasticity refers to some of the changes in an organism's behavior, morphology and physiology in response to a unique environment. Fundamental to the way in which organisms cope with environmental variation, phenotypic plasticity encompa ...

being able to grow in different sites from "extreme

arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ...

zones to

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

s along Chile". The tree does also grow in places with various types and degrees of competition from other plants. The leaves are

lanceolate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular ...

, glossy green above, whitish below and can measure up to . The flowers are white with a yellow center, and consist of a great number of petals and stamens. The fruit is a bluish berry. The

height Height is measure of vertical distance, either vertical extent (how "tall" something or someone is) or vertical position (how "high" a point is). For example, "The height of that building is 50 m" or "The height of an airplane in-flight is ab ...

–

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid fo ...

relation of ''D. winteri'' varies greatly. There is for example more spread in ''D. winteri'' height–diameter relations than for ''

Nothofagus ''Nothofagus'', also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere in southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and Australasia (east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Gui ...

'' species. Part of the spread can be explained as reflecting higher tree density that correlates with larger heights for a given diameter. Within its range ''D. winteri'' is more frost-tolerant than naturally occurring conifers and vessel-bearing

angiosperms Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants ...

such as the ''Nothofagus''. This challenged conventional views that plants without vessels such as ''D. winteri'' would be biological relicts poorly adapted to cold. The canelo is the

sacred tree A sacred tree is a tree which is considered to be sacred, or worthy of spiritual respect or reverence. Such trees appear throughout world history in various cultures including the ancient Greek, Hindu mythology, Celtic and Germanic mythologies. T ...

of the

Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who s ...

, who associated it with "good, peace and justice".

History

When

Sir Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 ( ...

sailed round the world in 1577-80, of the four ships accompanying the ''

Golden Hind ''Golden Hind'' was a galleon captained by Francis Drake in his circumnavigation of the world between 1577 and 1580. She was originally known as ''Pelican,'' but Drake renamed her mid-voyage in 1578, in honour of his patron, Sir Christopher Hat ...

'' at the outset, the only ship that successfully reached the entrance to the Strait of Magellan was the ''Elizabeth'', captained by

John Wynter Vice-Admiral Sir John Wynter or Winter (1555–1638) was an explorer and naval officer in the English Navy Royal. As a ship's captain in the Drake expedition of 1577-1580, he was the first European to cross the Strait of Magellan from west to ...

. Before entering the Strait, in July 1578, Drake sent Wynter ashore where he learned indigenous people ate the astringent bark. The ''Elizabeth'' transversed the Strait. A week later the two ships were separated in a storm and Wynter turned back. Wynter returned in 1580 with a supply of ''Drimys'' bark, and for centuries before

vitamin C Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate) is a water-soluble vitamin found in citrus and other fruits and vegetables, also sold as a dietary supplement and as a topical 'serum' ingredient to treat melasma (dark pigment spots) ...

was isolated, "Winter's Bark" was esteemed as a preventive and remedy for

scurvy Scurvy is a disease resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, feeling tired and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, decreased red blood cells, gum disease, changes to hair, and bleeding ...

— correctly so, for an

infusion Infusion is the process of extracting chemical compounds or flavors from plant material in a solvent such as water, oil or alcohol, by allowing the material to remain suspended in the solvent over time (a process often called steeping). An in ...

of ''D. winteri'' sustained

Captain James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and ...

and his crew in the South Pacific, and the naturalist accompanying his voyage of exploration,

Johann Reinhold Forster Johann Reinhold Forster (22 October 1729 – 9 December 1798) was a German Reformed (Calvinist) pastor and naturalist of partially Scottish descent who made contributions to the early ornithology of Europe and North America. He is best known ...

, was the first to officially describe and name ''D. winteri''.

Cultivation

''Drimys winteri'' is grown in cool moist climates as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

for its red-brown bark, bright green fragrant leaves and its clusters of creamy white jasmine-scented flowers. The species grows well in southern

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

, flourishing as far north as

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

. Specimens brought from the southern forests of

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla ...

and planted in the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

have proven to be especially hardy. This plant has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

's Award of Garden Merit. It has been planted in the North Pacific Coast of the United States. The species is considered to have a potential for

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

mitigation in northern Chile if planted in valleys.

Other uses

Canelo wood is reddish in color and heavy, with a very beautiful grain. It is used for furniture and music instruments. The wood is not durable outdoors because continuous rainfalls damage it. The wood is not good for making bonfires because it gives off a spicy smoke. The bark is gray, thick and soft and is used as a pepper replacement in Argentina and Chile. The peppery compound in canelo is

polygodial Polygodial is chemical compound found in dorrigo pepper, mountain pepper, horopito, canelo, paracress, water-pepper, and '' Dendrodoris limbata''.M Jonassohn (1996)Sesquiterpenoid unsaturated dialdehydes - Structural properties that affect r ...

.Muñoz-Concha, D., Vogel, H., Yunesc, R., Razmilic, I., Brescianic, L., and Malheiros, A., Presence of polygodial and drimenol in Drimys populations from Chile, ''Biochemical Systematics and Ecology'', Volume 35, Issue 7, July 2007, Pages 434-438 ''D. winteri'' is an

insect repellent An insect repellent (also commonly called "bug spray") is a substance applied to skin, clothing, or other surfaces to discourage insects (and arthropods in general) from landing or climbing on that surface. Insect repellents help prevent and cont ...

and

fumigant Fumigation is a method of pest control or the removal of harmful micro-organisms by completely filling an area with gaseous pesticides—or fumigants—to suffocate or poison the pests within. It is used to control pests in buildings (s ...

. Zapata & Smagghe 2010 test the essential oils of bark and leaves and find that both are repellent and usable as a fumigant against ''

Tribolium castaneum The red flour beetle (''Tribolium castaneum'') is a species of beetle in the family Tenebrionidae, the darkling beetles. It is a worldwide pest of stored products, particularly food grains, and a model organism for ethological and food safety ...

''.

Notes

References

* Hoffmann, Adriana (1997), Flora silvestre de Chile zona araucana: Una guía ilustrada para la identificación de las especies de plantas leñosas del sur de Chile (entre el río Maule y el seno de Reloncaví)., Santiago: El Mercurio. .

External links

History, botanical origin, description, etc
Hanburgy, Daniel and

Friedrich August Flückiger Friedrich August Flückiger (also spelled Flueckiger) was a Swiss pharmacist, chemist and botanist. He was born in Langenthal, canton of Bern, on 15 May 1828 and died on 11 December 1894. Flückiger studied chemistry at the University of Berli ...

(1879). ''Pharmacographia; a History of the Principal Drugs of Vegetable Origin...'' London: Macmillan and Co. pp 17–20. * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q775529 winteri Flora of central Chile Flora of southern Chile Flora of Northeast Argentina Flora of South Argentina Trees of mild maritime climate Trees of subpolar oceanic climate Spices Garden plants of South America Ornamental trees