Eucryphia cordifolia
Encyclopedia
Eucryphia cordifolia is a species of tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

 in the Cunoniaceae
Cunoniaceae
The Cunoniaceae is a family of 26 genera and about 350 species of woody plants in the Antarctic flora, with many laurifolia species with glossy leaves endemic to laurel forest habitat. The family is native to Australia, New Caledonia, New Guinea, New Zealand, southern South America, the Mascarene...

 family. It is found in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

 and Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. It is threatened by logging and habitat loss. The natural habitat is along the Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...

 Range from 38 to 43°S, and up to 700 meters (2300 ft) above sea level. It is a very elegant tree with a thick trunk and wide crown and can become over 40 m (130 ft) high. It blooms in February and March, depending on latitude and altitude. The fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

 is a capsule about 1.5 cm (0.6 in) length.

Cultivation and uses

Its flowers contain a highly appreciated aromatic nectar, harvested by introduced European bee
Bee
Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...

s and commercialized as "ulmo honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...

"
(miel de Ulmo).
The wood is light brown to brown, heavy, moderately firm, rather hard and quite decay resistant. It is used locally for construction and very extensively as firewood.

It also grows well in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 and has been planted in the North Pacific Coast of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK