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Gunnera manicata


Gunnera manicata
Photo Information
Copyright: Malgorzata Kopczynska (emka) (41)
Genre: Plants
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2007-02-10
Categories: Flowers
Exposure: f/2.8, 1/50 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2007-10-24 5:26
Viewed: 984
Points: 8
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Gunnera, commonly known as "giant rhubarb",
is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants, some of them gigantic. The genus is the only member of the family Gunneraceae.

The 40-50 species vary enormously in leaf size. Gunnera manicata, native to the Serra do Mar mountains of southeastern Brazil, is perhaps the largest species, with leaves typically 1.5-2 m (5-6 ft) wide, but exceptionally long, up to 3.4 m (11 ft), borne on thick, succulent leaf stalks (petioles) up to 2.5 m (8 ft) long. It germinates best in very moist, but not wet, conditions and temperatures of 22 to 29 °C.

Only slightly smaller is G. masafuerae of the Juan Fernandez Islands off the Chilean coast. They can have leaves up to 2.9 m (9 ft 5 inches) in width on stout leaf stalks 1.5 m (5 ft) long and 11 cm (4.5 in) thick according to Skottsberg. On nearby Mas a Fuera, G. peltata frequently has an upright trunk to 5.5 m (18 ft) in height by 25–30 cm (10–12 in) thick, bearing leaves up to 2 m (6 ft 4 inches) wide. G. magnifica of the Colombian Andes bears the largest leaf buds of any plant; up to 60 cm (2 ft) long and 40 cm (16 inches) thick. The succulent leaf stalks are up to 2.7 m (8 ft 10 inches) long. The massive inflorescence of small, reddish flowers is up to 2.3 m (7 ft 6 inches) long and weighs about 13 kg. Other giant Gunnera species are found throughout the Neotropics and Hawaii.

I have found this majestic plants growing wild near volcan Osorno, in Los Lagos region in Chile.
cicindela, nirmalroberts has marked this note useful
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ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To Mike-Rix: Gunneraemka 1 10-24 10:14
To cicindela: Gunneraemka 2 10-24 06:12
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Critiques [Translate]

Wow! This is indeed an impressive plant and you somehow underpinned this with the way you captured it. The note is also very information rich, though a little bit too many numbers not related directly to the picture for my taste, but this all is certaily
interesting for botanists.

Best Regards,
Mike

Hello Malgorzata,
That's a very interesting plant. Thanks for sharing the picture and informative note.
- Nirmal

Czesc Malgorzata! Bardzo ciekawa kompozycja. Ilez ciekawych rzeczy dzieje sie w tym kadrze. Pozdrawiam!

Witam serdecznie!
kolejna ciekawa roslina! Nie sadze, abym widzial ja wczesniej.
Podoba mi sie kolorystyka ramki - swietnie wspolgrajaca z kolorami rosliny. Szczegoly i glebia jak najbardziej ok. Tylko moze jesli o kompozycje chodzi bym sie czegos przyczepil - ten lisc po prawej troche niepotrzebnie zaslania kwiatostan :)
Pozdrawiam,
Radek

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