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Gevuina avellana

Gevuina avellana

Edibility
4/5
Medicinal
0/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Shrub
GrowthSlow

Gevuina avellana is only hardy in mild winter regions, tolerating occasional temperatures falling to around -10°c when dormant, so long as the wood has fully ripened[1, 2, 3]. The young growth is very sensitive to frost[PFAF]. In Britain, it succeeds outdoors only in the mildest areas of the country, growing well in Devon and Cornwall[1, 4]. Requires a lime-free soil and a sheltered position[5]. Requires a well-drained moist fertile soil[6]. Best grown in semi-shade[3]. The plant prefers sheltered woodland conditions, especially when growing near the limits of its cold tolerance[1, 4, 7]. The young growth in spring, even on mature plants, is frost-tender and so it is best to grow the plants in a position sheltered from the early morning sun but with plenty of sun from the middle of the morning[PFAF]. Gevuina avellana has a high potential as a food crop, and is being grown commercially in Chile and New Zealand[8]. Seedlings take some seven years to first production, and an estimated production of 3 - 9 tonnes per hectare of nuts in their shells may be achieved[8]. Cutting-grown trees may set fruit in 3 - 4 years and reach economic volumes in 6 - 7 years[8]. Young seedlings are susceptible to fungal diseases; a survival rate of 30% or less is not uncommon at the nursery stage. Careful management is critical and can make the difference between excellent survival rates (>99%) at some sites and poor rates (<50%) at others[8]. Root development is also critical, making selection of appropriate sites and soils an important factor[8]. A very ornamental plant[9, 10]. The flowers are fragrant[11]. Plants flower and set viable seed every year at Coleton Fishacre in south Devon, UK[12]. In general, however, flowering is unreliable in cool temperate zones[3]. Trees respond well to coppicing.[8] The leaves are very variable in shape, ranging from pinnate to bipinnate, the leaflets varying in number from 3 to 30. There is probably some form of symbiotic relationship with a fungus in the soil that the plants are dependant upon. Plants are very intolerant of root disturbance[10].

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a greenhouse. Presoak stored seed for 12 - 24 hours in warm water and sow as soon as possible in the year. The seed often germinates well but then sickens and dies, it has been suggested that this is due to the plants need of a symbiotic relationship with a soil-borne fungus. Adding some soil from around a growing plant to the seed compost might improve success rates. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts, and consider giving them some protection from the cold for their first winter or two outdoors. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, mid summer in a frame. Layering - hard pruning provides lots of material. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Gevuina+avellana>

Pollinators

Insects

References

  1. [1]Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. — Bean. W. · Murray · 1981 · ISBN - ↩︎A classic with a wealth of information on the plants, but poor on pictures.
  2. [2]Shrubs. — Phillips. R. & Rix. M. · Pan Books · 1989 · ISBN 0-330-30258-2 ↩︎Excellent photographs and a terse description of 1,900 species and cultivars.
  3. [3]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  4. [4]Trees and Shrubs in Cornwall. — Thurston. ↩︎Trees and shrubs that succeed in Cornwall based on the authors own observations. Good but rather dated.
  5. [5]Ornamental Shrubs, Climbers and Bamboos. — Thomas. G. S. · Murray · 1992 · ISBN 0-7195-5043-2 ↩︎Contains a wide range of plants with a brief description, mainly of their ornamental value but also usually of cultivation details and varieties.
  6. [6]The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers — Brickell. C. · Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd. · 1990 · ISBN 0-86318-386-7 ↩︎Excellent range of photographs, some cultivation details but very little information on plant uses.
  7. [7]The Milder Garden. — Taylor. J. · Dent · 1990 ↩︎A good book on plants that you didn't know could be grown outdoors in Britain.
  8. [8]New Zealand Institute for Crop & Food Research Ltd Plant Factsheets — New Zealand Institute for Crop & Food Research Ltd · 2010 · http://www.crop.cri.nz ↩︎Fact sheets on new and promising crops for New Zealand
  9. [9]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  10. [10]The Book of Edible Nuts. — Rosengarten. jnr. F. · Walker & Co. · 1984 · ISBN 0802707699 ↩︎A very readable and comprehensive guide. Well illustrated.
  11. [11]Inventory of Seeds and Plants Imported Vol. 21 — USDA Government Printing Office; Washington DC. · 1911 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎Details of seeds imported for trials by the United States Department of Agriculture in the last quarter of 1909, often detailing the uses of the plant and various other miscellaneous information. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  12. [12]The Garden. Volume 111. — RHS. · Royal Horticultural Society · 1986 · ISBN - ↩︎Snippets of information from the magazine of the RHS, including an article on Crambe maritima and another on several species thought to be tender that are succeeding in a S. Devon garden.
  13. [13]Flora of Chile. (in Spanish) — ? ↩︎Some information about the useful plants of Chile.
  14. [14]Nuts. — Howes. F. N. · Faber · 1948 · ISBN - ↩︎Rather old but still a masterpiece. Has sections on tropical and temperate plants with edible nuts plus a section on nut plants in Britain. Very readable.
  15. [15]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
  16. [16]Plants for Human Consumption. — Kunkel. G. · Koeltz Scientific Books · 1984 · ISBN 3874292169 ↩︎An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of Latin names with a brief list of edible parts.
  17. [17]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  18. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎