''Gunnera tinctoria'', known as giant rhubarb, Chilean rhubarb, or ''nalca'', is a flowering plant species native to southern Chile and neighboring zones in Argentina. It is unrelated to

rhubarb Rhubarb is the fleshy, edible stalks ( petioles) of species and hybrids (culinary rhubarb) of ''Rheum'' in the family Polygonaceae, which are cooked and used for food. The plant is a herbaceous perennial that grows from short, thick rhizomes. ...

, as the two plants belong to different

orders Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * H ...

, but looks similar from a distance and has similar culinary uses. It is a large-leaved

perennial plant In horticulture, the term perennial (''wikt:per-#Prefix, per-'' + ''wikt:-ennial#Suffix, -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annual plant, annuals and biennial plant, biennials. It has thus been d ...

that grows to more than two metres tall. It has been introduced to many parts of the world 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 th ...

. In some countries, such as New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Ireland, it has spread from gardens and is becoming an

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

of concern. It is known under the

synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

: ''Gunnera chilensis'' Lam. and ''Gunnera scabra''

Ruiz The Spanish surname Ruiz is a patronymic from the personal name Ruy, a short form of Rodrigo, meaning "son of Roderick". Roderick's roots can be traced back to the Visigoths, the Germanic tribe which ruled in the Iberian Peninsula between the 5th an ...

& Pav.

Taxonomy

It was first described in 1782 by

Juan Ignacio Molina Fr. Juan Ignacio Molina (; (June 24, 1740 – September 12, 1829) was a Chilean-Spanish Jesuit priest, natural history, naturalist, historian, translator, geographer, botanist, ornithologist, and linguist. He is usually referred to as Abate Moli ...

as ''Panke tinctoria'', and was transferred to the genus ''

Gunnera ''Gunnera'' is the sole genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Gunneraceae, which contains 63 species. Some species in this genus, namely those in the subgenus ''Panke'', have extremely large leaves. Species in the genus are various ...

'' in 1805 by

Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel (27 March 1776 – 12 September 1854) was a French botanist and politician. He was a founder of the science of plant cell biology, cytology. A native Parisian, at the age of twenty, he became an assistant- ...

Description

''Gunnera tinctoria'' is a giant, clump-forming herbaceous perennial. The leaves can grow up to 2.5m across, cordate and palmate with up to 9-lobed margins.Parnell, J. and Curtis, T. 2012. ''Webb's An Irish Flora'' Cork University Press The stems are covered in numerous spikes. It has erect spikes of cone-shaped

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

s (to 1m) from spring to early summer, with small flowers. The fruit is orange. The number of seeds is estimated from 80,000 per seedhead to 250,000 per plant. Gunnera Tinctoria flowering Stevage

Habitat

Stream and roadsides.

Uses

In its native Chile, where it is called ''nalca'' or ''pangue'', it is used in a similar way to European rhubarb: after peeling, the stalks are eaten fresh or cooked into jam or cordial. The leaves are used in the preparation of the traditional Chilean dish

curanto Curanto (from 'stony') is a traditional Chilote method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in an earth oven that is covered with pangue leaves and turf. The fundamental components are seafood, potatoes, along with other traditional prepar ...

. The roots are also traditionally used to tan leather and as a black dye. The species is seldom cultivated. Instead, the stalks are gathered from the wild and informally commercialised by local people known as ''nalqueros.''

As an invasive species

In parts of New Zealand, Chilean rhubarb has become a recognised pest plant; in

Taranaki Taranaki is a regions of New Zealand, region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano Mount Taranaki, Taranaki Maunga, formerly known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the ...

, on the western coast of

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

, it has spread to

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripar ...

zones and riverbeds, coastal cliffs and forest margins,Giant problems for Taranaki
; especially the pictures of ''Gunnera tinctoria'' on seacliffs (p. 17) thus placing the species on the

National Pest Plant Accord The National Pest Plant Accord (NPPA) is a New Zealand agreement that identifies pest plants that are prohibited from sale and commercial propagation and distribution. The Accord initially came into effect on 1 October 2001 between regional cou ...

. Under Section 52 and 53 of the Biosecurity Act, it is an offence in New Zealand to knowingly propagate, distribute, spread, sell or otherwise offer for possession.Department of Conservation 2005, p. 3 In

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

, the species was popular amongst gardeners for decades, but became rather well-established, and sometimes problematic, in western districts, and appeared to be spreading. In the west of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, ''G. tinctoria'' is a major invasive species,Guiry, M.D., John, D.M., Rindi, F and McCarthy, T.K. (eds) 2007. ''New Survey of Clare Island 6: The Freshwater and Terrestrial Algae.'' Royal Irish Academy. in particular on

Achill Island Achill Island (; ) is an island off the west coast of Ireland in the historical barony of Burrishoole, County Mayo. It is the largest of the Irish isles and has an area of approximately . Achill had a population of 2,345 in the 2022 census. ...

and on the

Corraun Peninsula The Corraun Peninsula, also spelt Currane ( Irish:''An Corrán'' ), is a peninsula in County Mayo, on the west coast of Ireland. It extends out from the mainland towards Achill Island. Thoroughfares on the peninsula include the Great Western G ...

County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...

. Its large leaves create dense shade, preventing other species from germinating or growing. Chilean rhubarb is classified in the European Union as an invasive species of Union concern, and it is illegal to import, grow, or sell it within the EU. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, the plant was classified under Schedule 9 of the

Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (c. 69) is an act of Parliament in the United Kingdom implemented to comply with European Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds. In short, the act gives protection to native species ...

as an invasive species. While it remained legal to cultivate privately, it was made illegal to allow the species to spread outside the bounds of one's property, or to deliberately sow it elsewhere. Gunnera tinctoria - Pto Varas

Similar species

A similar species is ''

Gunnera manicata ''Gunnera manicata'', known as Brazilian giant-rhubarb or giant rhubarb, is a species of flowering plant in the family Gunneraceae from the coastal Serra do Mar Mountains of Santa Catarina, Parana and Rio Grande do Sul States, Brazil. In cultiva ...

'' (Brazilian giant rhubarb). This species may also be invasive.

In popular culture

In October 2019, photos of a produce vendor in

Puerto Montt Puerto Montt (Mapuche: Meli Pulli) is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region, 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago. The commune ...

dressing himself in nalca leaves began circulating on Chilean social media under the name "Nalcaman". Because these photos were being shared around the same time as the beginning of the 2019–20 Chilean protests, Nalcaman has since become an element of the iconography surrounding Chile's anti-government protests.The Clinic
"Fotos épicas: Todos los superhéroes que han aparecido en las protestas en Chile"
'' The Clinic'', Santiago, 6 November 2019. Retrieved on 10 February 2020.

Notes

* The blue-green alga ''

Nostoc ''Nostoc'', also known as star jelly, troll's butter, spit of moon, fallen star, witch's butter (not to be confused with the fungi commonly known as witches' butter), and witch's jelly, is the most common genus of cyanobacteria found in a variety ...

'' is a symbiont in ''Gunnera''.

References

External links

''Gunnera tinctoria''

''Gunnera tinctoria''
at Biosecurity New Zealand
images
{{Authority control tinctoria Flora of Chile Edible plants Garden plants Flora of the Valdivian temperate forests