Drimys winteri

Drimys winteri
D. winterii flowers
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Magnoliids
Order:	Canellales
Family:	Winteraceae
Genus:	Drimys
Species:	D. winteri
Binomial name
Drimys winteri J.R. Forst. & G. Forst.

Drimys winteri (Winter's Bark), or Canelo, is a slender tree, growing up to 20 m (65 ft) tall. It is native to the Magellanic and Valdivian temperate rain forests of Chile and Argentina, where it is a dominant tree in the coastal evergreen forests. It is found below 1200 meters (4000 ft) between latitude 32° south and Cape Horn at latitude 56°. In its southernmost natural range it can tolerate temperatures down to −20 °C (−4 °F).

Leaves are lanceolate, glossy green above, whitish below and can measure up to 20 cm (7 in). Its flower is white with its center yellow and is made up by a great number of petals and stamens. Its fruit is a bluish berry.

When Sir Francis Drake sailed round the world in 1577-80, of the four ships accompanying the Golden Hind at the outset, the only ship that successfully rounded Cape Horn with him was the Elizabeth, captained by John Winter; the two ships separated in a storm and Winter turned back. Presumably he had sickness on board, for he sent a boat ashore to search out medicinal herbs. He returned in 1579 with a supply of Drimys bark, and for centuries before vitamin C was isolated, "Winter's Bark" was esteemed as a preventive and remedy for scurvy— correctly so, for a tisane of D. winteri sustained Captain James Cook and his crew in the South Pacific, and the naturalist accompanying his voyage of exploration, Johann Reinhold Forster, was the first to officially describe and name D. winteri.^[1]

It is also grown in cool moist climates^[2] as an ornamental plant for its red-brown bark, bright green fragrant leaves and its clusters of creamy white jasmine-scented flowers. The bark is gray, thick and soft and is used as a pepper replacement in Argentina and Chile. The peppery compound in Canelo is polygodial.^[3]

The species grows well in southern Britain flourishing as far north as Anglesey and all but frost-free San Francisco, but specimens brought from the southern forests of Tierra del Fuego and planted in the Faroe Islands have proven to be especially hardy.^[4] A fine specimen is found in Northumberland.^[5] It has been planted in the North Pacific Coast of the United States.^[6]

Canelo wood is reddish in color and heavy, with a very beautiful grain. It is used for furniture and music instruments. The wood is not durable outdoors because continuous rainfalls damage it. The wood is not good for making bonfires because gives off a spicy smoke.

References

1. ^ Alice M. Coats, Garden Shrubs and Their Histories (1964) 1992, s.v. "Drimys".
2. ^ John L. Creech, providing American garden notes for Coats 1992, remarks of D. winteri and Tasmanian D. aromatica, both grown in British gardens, "These two species have not had much success here"; Drimys winteri is grown in the San Francisco Botanical Garden: (Capt. Winter is identified as "William Winter").
3. ^ Muñoz-Conchaa, D., Vogelb, H., Yunesc, R., Razmilicd, I., Brescianic, L., and Malheirosc, A., Presence of polygodial and drimenol in Drimys populations from Chile, Biochemical Systematics and Ecology, Volume 35, Issue 7, July 2007, Pages 434-438
4. ^ Højgaard, A., J. Jóhansen, and S. Ødum (eds) 1989. A century of tree planting in the Faroe Islands. Føroya Frodskaparfelag, Torshavn.
5. ^ "Half-hardy trees in Britain and Ireland - part two". Royal Horticultural Society. http://www.rhs.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/831C8FEF-445C-4FA3-8951-AA257A07F238/0/halfhardytrees.pdf. Retrieved 2009-06-27. ^{[dead link]}
6. ^ "Drimys winteri in Washington Park Arboretum". Seattle Government. http://www.seattle.gov/parks/proparks/projects/ArboretumReport.pdf. Retrieved 2009-06-27. 

• Hoffmann, Adriana (1997), Flora silvestre de Chile zona araucana: Una guía ilustrada para la identificación de las especies de plantas leñosas del sur de Chile (entre el río Maule y el seno de Reloncaví)., Santiago: El Mercurio. ISBN 956-7743-01-0.

External links

• History, botanical origin, description, etc. Hanburgy, Daniel and Friedrich August Flückiger (1879). Pharmacographia; a History of the Principal Drugs of Vegetable Origin... London: Macmillan and Co. pp 17–20.
• "Drimys winteri in Crarae Gardens, Scotland". Dendrological Plant Image Gallery. http://www.dendroimage.de/2188.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-27.