''Gevuina avellana'' (Chilean hazelnut ( in

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 ...

), or ''Gevuina hazelnut''), is an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

tree, up to 20 meters (65 feet) tall. It is the only species currently classified in the genus ''Gevuina''. It is native to southern

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 eas ...

and adjacent valleys in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

. It is found from sea level to 700 meters (2300 feet) above sea level. Its distribution extends from 35° to 44° south latitude. The composite

leaves A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

are bright green and toothed, and the tree is in flower between July and November. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanis ...

s are very small and beige to whitish, are

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whic ...

and group two by two in long racemes. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

is a dark red nut when young and turns black. The peel is woody. It can grow up straight or branched from the soil, making up either a tree or a shrub. The name ''Gevuina'' comes from , 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 ...

Indigenous name for the Chilean hazel. The origin of the Spanish name, ''avellano'' come from the fact the Spanish settlers found the nuts similar to the

hazelnut The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus '' Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according ...

s they knew from Europe. Yet the species are not closely related. The concentration of ''Gevuina avellana'' in forest is highly irregular and difficult to predict. It may grow on flatland or hilly terrain, in

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay pa ...

or stony soils. Usually ''Gevuina avellana'' grows in association to other

broad-leaved tree A broad-leaved, broad-leaf, or broadleaf tree is any tree within the diverse botanical group of angiosperms that has flat leaves and produces seeds inside of fruits. It is one of two general types of trees, the other being a conifer, a tree with ne ...

s such as ''

Nothofagus obliqua ''Nothofagus obliqua'', commonly known as Patagonian oak, ''roble'', ''pellín'', ''roble pellín'', and ''hualle'' in its early state of growth or roble beech, is a deciduous tree from Chile and Argentina. It grows from 33 to 43° south latitude ...

'', ''

Nothofagus dombeyi ''Nothofagus dombeyi'', Dombey's beech, coigue, coihue or coigüe (from Mapudungun ''koywe'') is a tree species native to southern Chile and the Andean parts of Argentine Patagonia. It is a fast-growing species that can live in a wide range of ...

'', ''

Nothofagus alpina ''Nothofagus alpina'', also called rauli or raulí beech (in Mapuche language) is a species of plant in the Nothofagaceae family. A deciduous tree, it grows in Chile and Argentina, it reaches 50 m (160 ft) height and more than 2 meters ...

'', ''

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 ...

'' or ''

Laureliopsis ''Laureliopsis'' is a genus of flowering plants with just one species, ''Laureliopsis philippiana'', known as tepa and wawán, endemic to Chile and the narrow neighboring strip of Argentina (35 to 45°S). In Chile it is found from Maule to Aysé ...

''. Yet it does also grow in associations dominated by the conifers ''

Austrocedrus ''Austrocedrus'' is a genus of conifer belonging to the cypress family (Cupressaceae). It has only one species, ''Austrocedrus chilensis'', native to the Valdivian temperate rain forests and the adjacent drier steppe-forests of central-southern ...

'', ''

Fitzroya ''Fitzroya'' is a monotypic genus in the cypress family. The single living species, ''Fitzroya cupressoides'', is a tall, long-lived conifer native to the Andes mountains and coastal of southern Chile, and only to the Andes mountains Argentina, ...

'' and ''

Pilgerodendron ''Pilgerodendron'' is a genus of conifer belonging to the cypress family Cupressaceae. It has only one species, ''Pilgerodendron uviferum'', which is endemic to the Valdivian temperate rain forests and Magellanic subpolar forests of southern ...

''. As such ''Gevuina avellana'' does not form pure stands.

Taxonomy

''Gevuina'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of either 1 or 3 species of the family

Proteaceae The Proteaceae form a family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genera with about 1,660 known species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae, they make up the order ...

. In some classifications, ''Gevuinia'' is recognised with three species: one

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

('' Gevuina bleasdalei''), another to

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...

('' Gevuina papuana''), and one species in both Chile (''Gevuina avellana''). Other taxonomic reports place the Australian and New Guinea species in the genus '' Bleasdalea'' or in the Fijian endemic genus ''

Turrillia '' Turrillia '' is a genus of plants in the family Proteaceae, native to Oceania. The genus was named by American botanist Albert Charles Smith in 1985, in ''Flora Vitiensis Nova'' 3, containing five species. Only three, from Fiji and Vanuatu, a ...

'', and leave ''Gevuina'' with only ''Gevuina avellana''. The

Flora of Australia The flora of Australia comprises a vast assemblage of plant species estimated to over 30,000 vascular and 14,000 non-vascular plants, 250,000 species of fungi and over 3,000 lichens. The flora has strong affinities with the flora of Gondwana, ...

retains these 2 species in ''Gevuinia'', but the most recent classification places the Australian and New Guinea species as '' Bleasdalea bleasdalei'' and '' B. papuana''

Uses and cultivation

The

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosper ...

s are eaten raw, cooked in boiling water or toasted. The nuts contain about 12 percent protein, 49 percent oil, and 24 percent carbohydrates. The seed has a very high concentration of monounsaturated oils and is also obtained for several purposes in Chile. It is rich in

antioxidant Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit oxidation, a chemical reaction that can produce free radicals. This can lead to polymerization and other chain reactions. They are frequently added to industrial products, such as fuels and lubrica ...

s such as

vitamin E Vitamin E is a group of eight fat soluble compounds that include four tocopherols and four tocotrienols. Vitamin E deficiency, which is rare and usually due to an underlying problem with digesting dietary fat rather than from a diet low in vi ...

( α-tocotrienol) and

β-carotene β-Carotene is an organic, strongly coloured red-orange pigment abundant in fungi, plants, and fruits. It is a member of the carotenes, which are terpenoids (isoprenoids), synthesized biochemically from eight isoprene units and thus having 40 ...

. Its oil is an ingredient in some

sunscreen Sunscreen, also known as sunblock or sun cream, is a photoprotective topical product for the skin that mainly absorbs, or to a much lesser extent reflects, some of the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation and thus helps protect against sunbur ...

s. Gevuina oil is used as a cosmetic ingredient for its moisturizing qualities and because it is a source of omega 7 fatty acids (

palmitoleic acid Palmitoleic acid, or (9''Z'')-hexadec-9-enoic acid, is an omega-7 monounsaturated fatty acid (16:1n-7) with the formula CH3(CH2)5CH=CH(CH2)7COOH that is a common constituent of the glycerides of human adipose tissue. It is present in all tiss ...

).FR 2681530 A1 (SO.F.I.A. Cosmetiques (S.A.R.L.)) 26.03.1993 Production of seeds may vary greatly from tree to tree. The tree is a good

honey plant Honeybees usually collect nectar, pollen, or both from the following species of plants, which are called honey plants, for making honey. Acanthaceae (Acanthus family) *'' Avicennia nitida'' Jacq. or Avicennia ger ...

for bees and is also cultivated 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 ...

. The seed shells contain

tannin Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' (from Anglo-Norman ''tanner'' ...

that is used for tanning leather. The tree has an acceptable frost resistance (at least −12 °C (10 °F)) when mature. The wood is cream-colored with dark brown streaking and is used in cabinetry and musical instruments. It was introduced to

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 ...

in 1826. It grows well there, in Ireland and in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

and

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. A few specimens are cultivated in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

and in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Thou ...

of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. It grows well in temperate oceanic climates with cool temperatures where frosts occur commonly in winter, and has thrived in southern New Zealand. It needs 5 years to first harvest and 7 or 8 years for full production. In

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. ...

s and birds eat seeds from the trees. New varieties of greater yield than the original wild stock are being developed in both Chile and New Zealand. As of 1982 only a tiny faction of the nuts of wild stands were collected for processing.

Gallery

Image:Gevuina_avellana_1.jpg, Leaves and flowers Image:Gevuina_avellana-Avellano_%28rama%29.JPG, Twig Image:Gevuina_avellana_Flor_y_fruto_de_avellano_%28RastaChango%29.jpg, Flowers and fruits Image:Gevuina_avellana-fruto_%28avellana%29.JPG, Fallen nuts

Notes

Reference

Sources

*Rodríguez, Roberto; Mathei, Oscar y Quezada, Max. 1983. Flora arbórea de Chile. Universidad de Concepción. 408p. * Donoso, C. 2005. Árboles nativos de Chile. Guía de reconocimiento. Edición 4. Marisa Cuneo Ediciones, Valdivia, Chile. 136p. * Hoffmann, A. 1982. Flora silvestre de Chile zona araucana. Edición 4. Ediciones Fundación Claudio Gay, Santiago, Chile. 258p. *Muñoz, M. 1980. Flora del Parque Nacional Puyehue. Editorial Universitaria, Santiago, Chile. 557p. * * * * {{Taxonbar, from1=Q3104697, from2=Q2716551 Proteaceae Flora of Argentina Flora of central Chile Fruit trees Trees of Chile Chilean Matorral Monotypic Proteaceae genera Crops originating from Chile Edible nuts and seeds Trees of mild maritime climate Garden plants of South America Ornamental trees

Taxonomy

Uses and cultivation

Gallery

See also

Notes

Reference

Sources