Gunnera

Gunnera is a genus of herbs (some of them gigantic) and small pachycaul trees, the only member of the family Gunneraceae. Gunnera manicata, originally of the Serra do Mar mountains of southeastern Brazil is perhaps the largest species, with leaves typically 5 to 8 feet wide, but exceptionally {as at Narrow-water Park, County Cork, Northern Ireland in l903} up to eleven feet in width, borne on thick, succulent leaf stalks (petioles) up to eight feet long.

Only slightly smaller is G. masafuerae of the Juan Fernandez Islands off the Chilean coast. They can have leaves up to 9'5" in width on stout leaf stalks five feet long and 4.5 inches thick according to Skottsberg. On nearby Mas a Fuera, G. peltata frequently has an upright trunk to eighteen feet in height by 10 to 12 inches thick, bearing leaves up to 6'4" wide. G. magnifica of the Colombian Andes bears the largest leaf buds of any plant; up to two feet long and sixteen inches thick. The succulent leaf stalks are up to 8'10" in length. The massive inflorescence of small, reddish flowers is up to 7'6" in length and weighs about thirty pounds. Other giant gunnera species are found throughout the Neotropics and Hawai'i, and several small species (some only hand sized) are found in New Zealand.

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