Biology:Luma chequen

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Short description: Species of flowering plant

Luma chequen
Luma chequen.jpg
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Myrtaceae
Genus: Luma
Species:
L. chequen
Binomial name
Luma chequen
(Molina) A.Gray
Synonyms[1]

Luma chequen, the white Chilean myrtle, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Luma in the family Myrtaceae, native to the central Andes mountains between Chile and Argentina , at latitudes located 30 to 41° South. Synonyms include Eugenia chequen Molina, Myrtus chequen (Molina) Spreng., and Luma gayana (Barn.) Burret. Common names in Spanish include chequén, huillipeta, and arrayán blanco (white myrtle).

It is a shrub (rarely a small tree) growing to 9 m tall, with dull grey-brown bark (unlike the smooth red bark of the related Luma apiculata). It is evergreen, with small fragrant oval leaves 0.5-2.5 cm long and 0.3-1.5 cm broad, and white flowers in early to mid summer. Its fruit is an edible dark purple berry 1 cm in diameter, ripe in early autumn.

It has been introduced as ornamental in the North Pacific Coast of the United States .[2]

Etymology

Luma is a derivation of a vernacular Chilean name for this species.[3]

External links

  1. "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-115614. Retrieved February 5, 2014. 
  2. "Luma chequen in Washington Park Arboretum". Archived from the original on 2009-03-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20090324233535/http://www.seattle.gov/parks/proparks/projects/ArboretumReport.pdf. 
  3. Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. ISBN:9780521866453 (hardback), ISBN:9780521685535 (paperback). pp 243

Wikidata ☰ Q3300057 entry