Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Gunnera

Sixteen years ago, in January 1994, I boarded a United Airlines flight for Sydney, Australia and a wonderful 12- day cruise which visited Melbourne and Hobart, Tasmania before crossing the Tasman Sea, and sailing through the fiords of New Zealand.  After seeing spectacular Mitre Peak, we spent a day each in the New Zealand ports of Dunedin, Wellington and Christchurch before disembarking in Auckland where I spent two days before heading home to San Francisco.  

In Christchurch, I visited Mona Vale Gardens, a spectacular showplace of beautiful plants and flowers.  I saw the most amazing plant there, with gigantic leaves that towered over my friend and myself like a giant umbrella.  I never got the name of it and, in a computer crash several years ago, I lost all pictures I had of this interesting plant.

This past week, I went out with my good friend, Joanne Olivieri ( aka Poetic Shutterbug ) to San Francisco's Botannical Gardens and, as we were walking back to the car after a morning of photography, there was the plant - actually, a whole row of the same plants - right in front of us.
These specimens looked like something from outer space ( well, I've never traveled to that destination but it's what I imagine you  might find on another planet ).  I did get quite a few pictures of this gunnera tinctoria plant which was tagged as originating in Chile.

According to Wikipedia, there are 40 to 50 species of this plant, of varying leaf sizes.  The plant is often called a "giant rhubarb" or "dinosaur" plant.  They can be started from seeds, bulbs or plants and need consistently moist soil, rich in humus but well draining.  They like sun but full sun can blister their leaves.  They will need a large amount of growing space as the plants can grow to 12 feet wide!

The young leaf stalks of gunnera tinctoria ( they can grow to five feet long ) can be cooked as a vegetable or eaten raw.  The roots are used to make a black dye.

Here are my pictures from the San Francisco Botannical Gardens.

San Francisco Botannical Gardens, Gunnera tinctoria, Chile

Unfurling leave of gunnera tinctoria

Prickly stem of gunnera

Gunnera tinctoria flower









20 comments:

  1. You got some amazing shots that day, Carmen. These are wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Impressive photos, Carmen! And what a strange and powerful plant.
    I hope you'll visit my blog tomorrow, there will be some drawing there, not exactly related to the gift on the photo. You'll see. Have you got any post with a quotation in it?... Regards!

    ReplyDelete
  3. i haven't heard this name before......but i'm not that bright and interested in plants and flowers.....

    however this is big one......those leaves are huge... i mean 5" is too much.....

    i like green vegi's.....would love to try this one.......so how does it tastes ??????

    ReplyDelete
  4. What cool plants. You are right, they do look as if they came from another world. I have not been to Australia yet, someday.
    Kat

    ReplyDelete
  5. That Gunnera tinctoria is amazing!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. They grow like that on the west coast of Canada too. I have tried many times to grow one here in the mountains but with no luck. They are truly magnificent!

    ReplyDelete
  7. this is quite a dramatic plant, isn't it... no shrinking violet here :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Carmen...nice photos of such an unusual plant...San Fran...my kinda town...did basic training there for the CG...Peace and blessings

    ReplyDelete
  9. oh wow, Carmen, i so admire you for remembering what was 16 years ago, i can remember very well the blossom of this plant but did not know the name then.

    ReplyDelete
  10. A very interesting plant. I can see why you like it. Coincidentally, I was looking at plants with big leaves today. Not as big as these, but mine stuck in my memory for some reason.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Poetic Shutterbug - Didn't you get these same photos, Jo?

    ReplyDelete
  12. fullet - isn't this an unbelievable plant? The one I saw in New Zealand years ago was even larger.

    I'll check out your blog tomorrow to see what's happening!

    ReplyDelete
  13. hitesh rawat - I've never tasted the stalks of this plant. This was the first time I've seen it again since 1994 in New Zealand!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Kat_RN - I would imagine, with your antebellum property, you probably have plenty of land to plant a couple of these gunnera on. I'm glad I made it to Australia and New Zealand when I did
    ( in 1994 ) - I sure couldn't afford it since retirement!

    ReplyDelete
  15. willow - you'd definitely need a huge plot of land to grow this plant! It's not for the apartment dweller!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Susan Erikson - I imagine it gets too cold for gunnera to grow in the cooler climates.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Manuela - from what I've read, this plant can grow from rhizomes so it can spread and take over things!

    ReplyDelete
  18. jeff campbell - I fell in love with San Francisco when I passed through here at 18 on my way to Hawaii...at 65, I still love it. I've lived her over 33 years now.

    ReplyDelete
  19. There are so many interesting things that travel opens our worlds up to aren't there? I love taking pictures are the botanical gardens. Yours are wonderful.

    To answer a question you asked on my blog. I live in AL. My beach pictures were of Gulf Shores.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I know I'm a complete geek about stuff like this, but I love this sort of information.

    ReplyDelete