Chilean mock elm
| Chilean mock elm | ||||||||||||
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Chilean mock elm ( Eucryphia cordifolia ), flowers |
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| Eucryphia cordifolia | ||||||||||||
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The Chilean false elm ( Eucryphia cordifolia ) is a tree species from the genus of the false elm ( Eucryphia ) in the family Cunoniaceae that is native to Chile and Argentina . In Chilean Spanish the tree is called Ulmo and was named after the elm (Spanish olmo ) by the European settlers . Another name in Chile is also Muermo . The genus of the mock elm ( Eucryphia ) was previously placed in a separate family Eucryphiaceae.
Distribution and location
The home of the Chilean false elm are the Valdivian rainforests of Chile . The tree needs an oceanic, humid and temperate climate to thrive and is not hardy in Central Europe .
description
As a tree, the Chilean mock elm reaches heights of about 25 meters. At the home locations there are also specimens that reach a height of 40 meters with a trunk diameter of 2 meters. The tree forms a narrow to broad, leafy crown and is evergreen . The young twigs are hairy. The slightly rough, relatively smooth bark is gray-brown and often spotted. In the case of larger specimens, root approaches or buttress roots are present.
The simple, short-stalked and round-tipped to pointed, sometimes spiky and cross-opposite leaves are pale green and finely white-haired on the underside. They are sawn to whole on the edge, leathery and egg-shaped and slightly heart-shaped to rounded at the base.
The hermaphroditic, four-fold and white, short-stalked, fragrant flowers with a double flower envelope appear in late summer (in the northern hemisphere in August). They appear solitary and axillary. The early falling calyx is small and hairy. Many stamens and a top constant, vielkammeriger ovary with many free, pfriemlichen pencils with small, capitate scars exist. There is a discus .
There are septicidal, first red and then woody, brown, longitudinally striated, about 1.5 centimeters long capsule fruits with stylus remains at the tip with some unilaterally winged seeds.
use
The medium-heavy, medium-hard and not particularly durable, reddish wood is used as construction timber and for furniture, but also as firewood. It is known as Ulmo .
The bees transform the nectar of the ulmo flowers into an excellent honey, dark yellow, creamy, marzipan-like.
literature
- H. Horn, J. Aira, JE Henriquez, S. Laukemann, T. Held: The investigation of chemical-physical and pollen-analytical parameters for the characterization of Chilean olmo honey (Eucryphia cordifolia, E. glutinosa). Tropical Day 1997 in Hohenheim ( Memento from July 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF).
- Bernardo Gut: Trees in Patagonia. Birkhäuser, 2008, ISBN 978-3-7643-8837-9 , pp. 144 f.
- Martin Chudnoff: Tropical Timbers of the World. Agriculture Handbook 607, USDA, 1984, p. 79.
Web links
- Eucryphia cordifolia at Useful Temperate Plants.
- Ulmo, Muermo near Chilebosque (span.)
- Eucryphia cordifolia in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
- Eucryphia cordifolia at Fundación RA Philippi (Spanish with pictures).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Source: Rüdiger Feldt (beekeeper).