''Persea meyeniana'' 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, which ...

tree or shrub in the laurel family (

Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genera worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016 ). They are dicotyledons, and occur ma ...

), native to central Chile. It belongs to the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Persea ''Persea'' is a genus of about 150 species of evergreen trees belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The best-known member of the genus is the avocado, ''P. americana'', widely cultivated in subtropical regions for its large, edible fruit. O ...

'', a group of evergreen trees that includes the

avocado The avocado (''Persea americana'') is a medium-sized, evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It is native to the Americas and was first domesticated by Mesoamerican tribes more than 5,000 years ago. Then as now it was prized for i ...

. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Overview

This species is found in some forests of central

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 ...

that face threats of destruction or

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

; for example, ''P. meyeniana'', occurs on

Cerro La Campana Cerro la Campana, the Bell mountain, is a mountain in La Campana National Park in central Chile. The Pacific and the mountain Aconcagua are visible from the summit on clear days. Due to the area's expanding human population, considerable def ...

, where historic and ongoing deforestation has reduced the habitat of the

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

Chilean wine palm ''Jubaea'' is a genus of palms with one species, ''Jubaea chilensis'' or ''Jubaea spectabilis'', commonly known in English as the Chilean wine palm or Chile cocopalm, and palma chilena in Spanish. It is native to southwestern South America and i ...

C. Michael Hogan. 2008 and the forest system as a whole.

References

André Joseph Guillaume Henri Kostermans Dr. André Joseph Guillaume Henri 'Dok' Kostermans (Purworejo, 1 July 1906 – Jakarta, 10 July 1994) was an Indonesian botanist of Dutch ancestry. He was born in Purworejo, Java, Dutch East Indies, and educated at Utrecht University, taking his ...

. 1993. Mutisiopersea Kostermans, a new genus in Lauraceae. ''Rheedea'' 3: 132–135. * C. Michael Hogan. 2008
''Chilean Wine Palm: Jubaea chilensis'', GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg

Line notes

Flora of Chile meyeniana Plants described in 1833 {{Laurales-stub