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Queule - Gomortega keule

From the Gomortegaceae family

The Queule, also called Keule or Hualhual is an endemic species of Chile. It is distributed exclusively in the coastal mountain range, from the Maule River to the province of Concepción, south of the Nahuelbuta range.

It is a very scarce evergreen tree with fragmented populations that inhabits ravines and humid forest slopes.

Queules can grow up to 15 meters high and have a trunk up to 60 cm in diameter, although individuals up to 30 meters tall with trunks 1 meter in diameter have been reported in Nahuelbuta.

With grayish bark but with reddish-orange fissures and nodules. Light green, lustrous, pyramid-shaped, coarse-grained crown. It bears a yellowish drupe fruit up to 6 cm long, being one of the largest edible fruits of the Chilean native forest.

Queule, declared a Natural Monument, is in a state of Critically Endangered. It is prohibited by law to log or affect its natural areas.

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Alerce - Fitzroya cupressoides

From the Cupresaceae family

Also called Fitzroya, the Alerce is a species of long-lived tree, endemic to the northern Patagonian forests of Chile and Argentina. In Chile it is distributed in a fragmented form in the intermediate depression and in both mountain ranges of the regions of Los Ríos and Los Lagos, from Valdivia to Palena and Chiloé.

Typical species of the evergreen forest and peatlands. Reddish-brown bark, with large longitudinal fissures, pyramidal and elongated dark green crown.

Alerces can reach up to 50 meters in height and 5 meters in diameter, which makes it one of the largest and oldest trees in the Chilean forest. It is recognized as one of the longest-lived trees, not only in Chile but in the world. It has been suggested in 2022 that the world's oldest tree would be a specimen of Alerce from the Coastal Alerce National Park, which would be approximately 5,400 years old.

This ENT has been extremely exploited in the past, which has almost irreversibly depleted its natural populations. It is in a state of Endangered (EN) and its logging or damage is prohibited by law.

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Araucaria - Araucaria araucana

From the Araucariaceae family

Imposing tree that stands out for its longevity, being able to live up to 1,000 years or more. This characteristic gives it an enormous ancestral value for the Pehuenche people.

Native species of Chile and Argentina, it grows in both mountain ranges between the Bíobio and Araucanía.

Typical species of the vegetational region of the Andean Patagonian Forest. Although it tends to form pure forests, it tends to associate very well with Lengas, Ñirres and Coigües, forming mixed forests.

The Araucaria is a tree that can reach up to 3 m in diameter. It has a hard bark and of great thickness, formed by rectangular plates of dark gray or reddish color, similar to the carapace of a tortoise. The foliage is leathery, dark green and umbrella-shaped in its adult stage. Hard leaves up to 4 cm long that are imbricate and spirally arranged on the branches. Its seeds or pine nuts are edible and have a high nutritional value, rich in carbohydrates.

Today the Araucaria is a Natural Monument of Chile, so its logging is prohibited by law. In the Nahuelbuta Mountain Range it is in Endangered status (EN) and in the Andes Mountain Range in Vulnerable status (VU).

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Pitao - Pitavia punctata

From the Rutaceae family

The Pitao, also called Canelilo, Canelilla or Pitau is endemic to Chile. Its name derives from the Mapuche Pitau or Pitraw that means "callus", since its fruit would have similarity.

It is a very rare and scarce species that grows only in fragmented forests on the coast from Linares to the province of Malleco. It prefers humid sectors, ravines and on the edge of bodies of water, associated mainly with species of the deciduous forest.

Evergreen tree, up to 15 meters high, with a trunk up to 50 cm in diameter with a grayish bark, globular crown, intense light green foliage and coarse-grained. It has a citrus fragrance similar to the lemon tree, a species of the same family.

The Pitao is a species in an Endangered state (EN), since its populations have been fragmented and deforested for forestry, livestock and urban purposes, which has left the species on the verge of extinction. In 1995 it was declared a Natural Monument, so logging or damaging its ecosystem is prohibited by law.

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