Species
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Gunnera tinctoria (Molina) Mirb.

Chilean gunnera, Chilean gunnera, Chilean gunnera (EN), Chilean rhubarb

Climate known 62 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Gunnera tinctoria, known as giant-rhubarb, 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 2 m (6.6 ft) tall. It has been introduced to many parts of the world as an ornamental plant. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Gunnera tinctoria”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Gunnera

Gunnera is the sole genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Gunneraceae, which contains 63 species. Some species in this genus, namely those in the subgenus Panke, have extremely large leaves. Species in the genus are variously native to Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, Papuasia, Hawaii, insular Southeast Asia, eastern Africa, and Madagascar. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Gunnera”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Gunneraceae
Described by
(Molina) Mirb.
Native to
Argentina South, Chile Central, Chile South
Wild records
153 in range· 50 open

At a glance

Warmest month
19°C
Feb, mean day; nights 11 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2251mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jun 371 mm (CHELSA)
Light
8–46DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a winter growing season, October to March in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 2251 mm a year, wettest June at 371 mm, driest February at 73 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 8 to 46 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -1.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Gunnera chilensis Lam.; Gunnera commutata Blume; Gunnera rheifolia Schindl.; Gunnera scabra Ruiz & Pav.; Gunnera thyrsiflora Ruiz and 9 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, October to March in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, southern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1631 mm of 2251 mm) falls in April to September, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 8.2 °C against a yearly mean of 10.5 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: October to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 2251 mm a year, wettest June at 371 mm, driest February at 73 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2251 mm a year at the habitat, 1631 mm of it April to September. Wettest month June at 371 mm, driest February at 73 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1305 mm to 4044 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 8 to 46 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 8 to 46 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 7, the highest 90th-percentile month 56).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -1.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -1.9 °C, the absolute minimum -5.8 °C, about 13 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 3.7 °C in July (across the envelope cells -1.9 °C to 7.4 °C), warmest day 18.6 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -1.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 9 °C in Jul to 19 °C in Feb; mean night from 4 °C in Jul to 11 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 2251 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 129 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -5.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 33.9 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost33.9° 99th-percentile day (undated)-5.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 8–46RH 61–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 129 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C18 / 15–2219 / 16–2217 / 14–2014 / 10–1711 / 6–149 / 3–129 / 3–129 / 4–1311 / 7–1412 / 9–1614 / 11–1817 / 14–20
Night °C11 / 7–1311 / 7–1310 / 6–128 / 3–106 / 1–95 / -1–84 / -2–74 / -2–75 / -1–86 / 1–98 / 3–1010 / 5–12
Rain mm86 / 19–21473 / 23–177112 / 32–249173 / 90–360332 / 189–553371 / 211–623317 / 179–496269 / 163–438169 / 95–300145 / 74–282108 / 47–23596 / 27–239
DLI46 / 37–5640 / 33–4829 / 24–3718 / 15–2511 / 9–168 / 7–1210 / 9–1415 / 13–2024 / 20–3033 / 28–4140 / 34–5145 / 37–56
RH %61 / 56–6661 / 56–6563 / 58–6665 / 62–6867 / 64–7068 / 65–7166 / 64–6966 / 63–6864 / 62–6764 / 61–6663 / 59–6662 / 57–66

Each figure is the median across the 129 grid cells holding the 151 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2574:2148 (-38.725, -72.575). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -5.8 °C, 1st-percentile night -1.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.9 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 129 distinct grid cells holding the 151 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2574:2148 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -38.50_-72.500, lapse-corrected -121 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 141 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeArgentina South, Chile Central, Chile South· introduced: Great Britain, Ireland, France, Azores, British Columbia, Oregon, Washington, California
Kew's description“perennial or rhizomatous geophyte” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-41.134, -72.401 · in the densest population, 117 records (76% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 153 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 50 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 10 km away. 1266 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 2 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 153 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Gunnera tinctoriaGunnera tinctoriaGunnera tinctoriaGunnera tinctoriaGunnera tinctoriaGunnera tinctoriaGunnera tinctoriaGunnera tinctoria

Photographs: (c) Joe Potter Butler, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Jon Sullivan, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Leon Perrie, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Mel Whiting, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); no rights reserved · CC0 (3).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Gunnera tinctoria, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Gunnera tinctoria: An Unusual Nitrogen-Fixing Invader
Bruce Osborne, Fiona Doris, Ann Cullen, R. N. McDonald (1991) · BioScience
Ecología trófica del jabalí europeo (Sus scrofa) silvestre en Chile
Oscar Skewes, Roberto Rodríguez, Fabián M. Jaksić (2007) · Revista chilena de historia natural
Genetic Diversity of Nostoc Microsymbionts from Gunnera tinctoria Revealed by PCR-STRR Fingerprinting
R. Guevara, J. J. Armesto, Margarita Carú (2002) · Microbial Ecology
Management of UK priority invasive alien plants: a systematic review protocol
Philip A. Martin, Gorm E. Shackelford, James M. Bullock, Belinda Gallardo (2020) · Environmental Evidence
A Novel Hydrocolloid Film Based on Pectin, Starch and Gunnera tinctoria and Ugni molinae Plant Extracts for Wound Dressing Applications
Constanza Sabando, Walther Ide, Maité Rodríguez-Díaz, Gustavo Cabrera‐Barjas (2020) · Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry
The impact of Gunnera tinctoria (Molina) Mirbel invasions on soil seed bank communities
Margherita Gioria, Bruce Osborne (2009) · Journal of Plant Ecology
Improvement of endothelial function by Gunnera tinctoria extract with antioxidant properties
Constanza Sabando, Maité Rodríguez-Díaz, Walther Ide, Edgar Pastene (2020) · Biological Research
Alien plant introductions and greenhouse gas emissions: Insights from Gunnera tinctoria invasions
Maurício Cruz Mantoani, Bruce Osborne (2021) · The Science of The Total Environment
Antioxidant Effect of Extracts from Native Chilean Plants on the Lipoperoxidation and Protein Oxidation of Bovine Muscle
Raquel Bridi, Ady Giordano, Maria Fernanda Peñailillo, Gloria Montenegro (2019) · Molecules
Use of nitrogen by the Nostoc—Gunnera tinctoria (Molina) Mirbel symbiosis
Bruce Osborne, Ann Cullen, Peter W. Jones, G. J. Campbell (1992) · New Phytologist
Using soil seed banks to assess temporal patterns of genetic variation in invasive plant populations
Mark Fennell, Tommy Gallagher, Luis León Vintró, Bruce Osborne (2014) · Ecology and Evolution

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Gunnera 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 47 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.