{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}} {{Redirect|Nalca|the Papuan language of Indonesia|Nalca language}} {{Speciesbox |image = Gunnera tinctoria P2051284.jpg |genus = Gunnera |species = tinctoria |authority = (Molina) Mirb. |synonyms = ''Gunnera scabra'' {{small|Ruiz & Pav.}}<br /> ''Panke tinctoria'' {{small|Molina}} |synonyms_ref = <ref name=powo/> }}
'''''Gunnera tinctoria''''', known as '''giant-rhubarb''',<ref name=BSBI07>{{BSBI 2007|accessdate=2014-10-17}}</ref> '''Chilean rhubarb''', ''quirusilla'' or ''nalca'', is a flowering plant species native to southern Chile and neighboring zones in Argentina and Bolivia. It is not closely related to rhubarb, as the two plants belong to different orders, but looks similar from a distance and has similar culinary uses. It is a large-leaved perennial plant that grows to more than {{convert|2|m|ft|abbr=on}} tall. It has been introduced to many parts of the world as an ornamental plant. In some countries, such as New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, it has spread from gardens and is becoming an introduced species of concern. It is known under the synonyms ''Gunnera chilensis'' Lam. and ''Gunnera scabra'' Ruiz & Pav.
== Taxonomy == It was first described in 1782 by Juan Ignacio Molina as ''Panke tinctoria'',<ref name=powo>{{Cite web|title=''Gunnera tinctoria'' (Molina) Mirb. {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science|url=http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:430194-1|access-date=2022-02-10|website=Plants of the World Online|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{citation|author=Molina, G.I |date=1782|title= Saggio sulla Storia Naturale del Chili del Signor Abate Giovanni Ignazio Molina|location=Bologna|page=143| url=https://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/viewer/9635/?offset=#page=144&viewer=picture&o=bookmark&n=0&q=}}</ref> and was transferred to the genus ''Gunnera'' in 1805 by Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Vascular Plants: ''Gunneria tinctoria''|url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services|access-date=2022-02-10|website=biodiversity.org.au}}</ref><ref>Mirbel, C.F.B. de (1805), ''Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulaire, des Plantes'' Edn. 2, 10: 141 </ref>
==Description== ''Gunnera tinctoria'' is a giant, clump-forming herbaceous perennial. The leaves can grow up to {{convert|2.5|m|ft|abbr=on}} across, cordate and palmate with up to 9-lobed margins.<ref name="Parnell">Parnell, J. and Curtis, T. 2012. ''Webb's An Irish Flora'' Cork University Press {{ISBN|978-185918-4783}}</ref> The stems are covered in numerous spikes. It has erect panicles of cone-shaped inflorescences weighing as much as {{cvt|14|kg|lb|-1}}<ref> Flora and Silva, Volume 3 issue 32 (November 1905) p. 294.</ref> growing to {{convert|1|m|ft|abbr=on}} in height from spring to early summer, with small dimerous flowers. The fruit is orange. The number of seeds is estimated from 80,000 per seedhead to 250,000 per plant.
[[File:Gunnera Tinctoria flowering Stevage.jpg|thumb|250px|''Gunnera tinctoria'' flowering on the coast of Chiloé Island, Chile]]
==Habitat== ''Gunnera tinctoria'' grows near streams and roadsides.<ref name="Parnell"/>
==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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nalca |url=https://www.tasteatlas.com/nalca |website=TasteAtlas |access-date=6 May 2023}}</ref> The leaves are used in the preparation of the traditional Chilean dish curanto. The roots are also traditionally used to tan leather and as a black dye.<ref>{{cite book |author=Charles Darwin |title=The Voyage of the Beagle |chapter=Chapter XIII — Chiloe and Chonos Islands |chapter-url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/944/944-h/944-h.htm#link2HCH0013 |quote=The inhabitants eat the stalks, which are subacid, and tan leather with the roots, and prepare a black dye from them}}</ref> The species is seldom cultivated. Instead, the stalks are gathered from the wild and informally commercialised by local people known as ''nalqueros.''<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cameron |first1=Jimena |last2=Vergara-Pinto |first2=Francisca |last3=Carrasco Henríquez |first3=Noelia |last4=Neves |first4=Camila |last5=de Cortillas |first5=Natascha |last6=Flores |first6=Cledia |date=2024-03-01 |title=Women gatherers of nalca (Gunnera tinctoria) as guardians of socioecosystems: Local history, extractivism and restoration in Chile |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2214790X2300182X |journal=The Extractive Industries and Society |volume=17 |article-number=101394 |doi=10.1016/j.exis.2023.101394 |bibcode=2024ExIS...1701394C |issn=2214-790X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
==As an invasive species== In parts of New Zealand, Chilean rhubarb has become a recognised pest plant; in Taranaki, on the western coast of North Island, it has spread to riparian zones and riverbeds, coastal cliffs, and forest margins,<ref name=Taranaki>[https://web.archive.org/web/20061009035214/https://www.biosecurity.org.nz/files/Giant_problem.pdf Giant problems for Taranaki] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071019125754/http://www.biosecurity.org.nz/files/Giant_problem.pdf |date=2007-10-19 }}; especially the pictures of ''Gunnera tinctoria'' on seacliffs (p. 17)</ref> thus placing the species on the National Pest Plant Accord. 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.<ref name=instead>Department of Conservation 2005, p. 3</ref> In Great Britain, the species was popular amongst gardeners for decades, but became rather well-established, and sometimes problematic, in western districts, and appeared to be spreading.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nonnativespecies.org/factsheet/factsheet.cfm?speciesId=1647|title=Giant Rhubarb, Gunnera tinctoria|last=Anon|work=NNSS species information|publisher=GB Non-native species secretariat|access-date=1 May 2017}}</ref> In the west of Ireland, ''G. tinctoria'' is a major invasive species,<ref name="Guiry">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. {{ISBN|978-1-904890-31-7}}</ref> in particular on Achill Island and on the Corraun Peninsula, County Mayo. 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/invasivealien/list/index_en.htm|title=List of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern|last=Anon|publisher=European Commission|access-date=18 June 2019}}</ref>
In the United Kingdom, the plant was classified under Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gunnera Removal {{!}} Environet |url=https://www.environetuk.com/invasive-species/gunnera/removal |access-date=2023-08-24 |website=Japanese Knotweed and Invasive Plant Specialists {{!}} Environet UK |language=en-GB}}</ref>
==Similar species== A similar species is ''Gunnera manicata'' (Brazilian giant rhubarb). This species may also be invasive.
==In popular culture== In October 2019, photos of a produce vendor in Puerto Montt dressing himself in nalca leaves began circulating on Chilean social media under the name "Nalcaman".<ref>24horas.cl. [https://www.24horas.cl/tendencias/redessociales/nalcaman--el-nuevo-superheroe-de-puerto-montt-que-encanto-a-las-redes-sociales-3636459 "Nalcaman: El nuevo superhéroe de Puerto Montt que encantó a las redes sociales"] ''24horas.cl'', Santiago, 4 October 2019. Retrieved on 10 February 2020.</ref> 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.<ref>The Clinic. [https://www.theclinic.cl/2019/11/06/fotos-epicas-todos-los-superheroes-que-han-aparecido-en-las-protestas-en-chile/ "Fotos épicas: Todos los superhéroes que han aparecido en las protestas en Chile"] ''The Clinic'', Santiago, 6 November 2019. Retrieved on 10 February 2020.</ref>
== Gallery == <gallery> File:Gunnera tinctoria inflorescence Saleforce Transit Center.jpg|Panicle and leaves at Salesforce Park. File:Gunnera tinctoria, detail - geograph.org.uk - 201436.jpg|Red leaf stalks File:Ejemplar de la planta herbácea "nalca" (Gunnera tinctoria), en Calen. Isla Grande de Chiloé. Chile.jpg|Human for scale in Chiloé Island, Chile File:Gunnera tinctoria - Pto Varas.jpg|Chilean rhubarb on sale at a street in Puerto Varas. File:Gunnera tinctoria MHNT.BOT.2015.2.42.jpg|Dried panicle File:Gunnera tinctoria 6.jpg|The plant at SF Botanical Garden </gallery>{{Clear}}
==Notes== * The blue-green alga ''Nostoc'' is a symbiont in ''Gunnera''.<ref name="Guiry"/>
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book | author=Pink, A. | url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11892|title=Gardening for the Million| year=2004 | publisher=Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation}} * Department of Conservation (NZ) - ''Plant me instead''. Wellington (New Zealand) 2005. {{ISBN|0-478-14007-X}} * Department of Conservation - leaflet: "Chilean Rhubarb; shading out our natives", Wanganui. March 2006.
==External links== {{Commons}} * [http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Gunnera+tinctoria ''Gunnera tinctoria''] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20071202015408/http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/pest-and-disease-response/pests-and-diseases-watchlist/chilean-rhubarb ''Gunnera tinctoria''] at Biosecurity New Zealand * [http://www.flora33.com/en/magnoliophyta/magnoliopsida/gunneraceae/gunnera_tinctoria.php images]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q847582}} {{Authority control}}
tinctoria Category:Flora of Chile Category:Edible plants Category:Garden plants Category:Flora of the Valdivian temperate forests