''Chusquea quila'', or , is a perennial bamboo that grows in the humid temperate forests of Chile and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. In contrast to most bamboos, it grows as a dense, climbing or decumbent shrub. Its aerial culms are solid, unlike most bamboos, which have hollow culms. Chusquea quila may form pure stands called ''quilantales'' occupying all the understory of a forest. ''Chusquea quila'' and whole quilantales flower every 10 to 30 years (or 18 to 20 years in some accounts). The seeding that follow the flowering has been associated with mouse vermin. Flour can be prepared from its seeds and its shoots are edible. ''Chusquea quila'' species have been historically harvested for seed by indigenous peoples.

Mapuche The Mapuche ( , ) also known as Araucanians are a group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging e ...

and Pehuenche people are reported to have made flour of the seeds.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3769656 quila Flora of Chile Flora of Argentina Flora of the Valdivian temperate forests Plants described in 1829 Taxa named by Carl Sigismund Kunth