Gunnera magellanica
# Gunnera magellanica

Gunnera magellanica is a perennial rhizomatous dioeceous herb native to Chile, Argentina and the Falkland Islands, and Andean areas of Peru, Ecuador. In the southern part of its range it grows in damper parts of the Magellanic subpolar forests and Valdivian temperate forests, and shrub formations on Tierra del Fuego, with an altitudinal range from sea level to 1500m.

## Description

Unlike its congeners, G. tinctoria and G. manicata, the leaves are small, approximately 6 cm across. They are rounded or kidney-shaped, stipulate on long (2–10 cm) petioles, with crenate edges.

Flowers are unisexual, with female inflorescences shorter than male ones. The fruit is a bright red berry (drupe) 3–5 mm in diameter.

The leaves die back in the austral autumn, so G. magellanica perennates as under-ground rhizomes, and is therefore classified as a cryptophyte.

## Taxonomy

Gunnera magellanica was first described Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in Encyclopédie Méthodique, Botanique 3: 61, t. 801, f. 2. 1789.

### Etymology

Gunnera: the generic name honours the Norwegian botanist and bishop Johan Ernst Gunnerus.

magellanica: geographical epithet referring to its distribution in proximity to the Magellan Straits.

### Synonyms

* Gunnera falklandica Hook.
* Gunnera integrifolia Blume
* Gunnera plicata Vahl
* Gunnera reniformis Gay ex Blume
* Misandra magellanica (Lam.) J.F. Gmel.

## In popular culture

### Vernacular Names

Vernacular names are Frutilla del Diablo in Spanish, and in English on the Falkland Islands it is called Pigvine or Pig Vine.

### Garden plant

Gardeners in English-speaking countries know it as baby gunnera, devil's strawberry (probably a direct translation of the Spanish name) or dwarf rhubarb. As a garden plant G. magellanica can be used as ground cover, but is sometimes invasive. It rarely fruits as it is dioecious and both male and female plants are needed.

### Stamps

G. magellanica featured on the 1½ d. stamp of the 1968 "Floral Issue" of Falkland Island postage stamps.

