Maytenus boaria
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 Maytenus boaria
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| Maytenus boaria Molina |
Maytenus boaria (Mayten) is an evergreen tree of the family Celastraceae, native from South America, up to 20 m (65 ft), 80 cm diameter (30 in), straight trunk. It grows approximately from 30 to 50º lat S: Chile and Argentina.
Its leaves are small, alternate, elliptical, fine serrate margins, light green color, about 2.5 and 5 cm long.
The flowers are small; male are brownish yellow and female are green with purple lines.
Its fruit is a yellow bivalve capsule, which contains one or two seeds, and is covered by a red-colored membrane. Its seeds are very easy to germinate.
From its seeds oil is obtained in order to elaborate varnish. The hard wood is used in tool handles and as both ornamental in gardens and reforestation of Chile. Flowers combined with European bees produce a very delicious honey. Its tender leaves are used to feed cattle, in fact the name boaria means bovine, because they enjoy feeding from them. It is easy to plant by seed. It is fully naturalized in New Zealand. Few trees have been planted in gardens of California and private collections in Spain[1], and all of them have acclimatized in those lands. It has been planted as ornamental in the North Pacific Coast of the United States as north as Seattle, Washington[2]. It is slow-growing and drought resistant tree. When growing wild in Argentina, a more continental climate, it is hardier than those in Chile; but provenance source has not been selected from Argentina for cultivation in Europe.[3]
[edit] References and external links
- ^ Chilean plants cultivated in Spain.
- ^ Maytenus boaria in Washington Park Arboretum.
- ^ Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. Murray 1981.
- Donoso, C. 2005. Árboles nativos de Chile. Guía de reconocimiento. Edición 4. Marisa Cuneo Ediciones, Valdivia, Chile. 136p.
- Hoffman, Adriana. 1998. Flora Silvestre de Chile, Zona Central. Edición 4. Fundación Claudio Gay, Santiago. 254p.
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