Ulmo is a temperate evergreen tree from southern Chile and Argentina, grown as an ornamental and valued for its honey-producing white flowers. It does best in mild, humid, maritime climates, as shown by its success on the west coast of Scotland.
Family
Cunoniaceae (Cunoni family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Water regularly while establishing, then keep soil evenly moist without waterlogging.
Soil
Moist, well-drained, acidic to neutral soil enriched with organic matter.
Temperature
10–22 °C; protect from hard frost and cold winters below -10 °C.
How easy
Moderate
Native range
SC. & S. Chile to SW. Argentina
Climate
temperate
About
Eucryphia cordifolia, the ulmo, is a species of tree in the family Cunoniaceae. It is found in Chile and Argentina. It is threatened by logging and habitat loss. The natural habitat is along the Andes Range from 38 to 43°S, and up to 700 meters (2300 ft) above sea level. It is an exquisite tree with a thick trunk and broad crown and can become over 12 m (39 ft) high. It blooms in February and March, depending on latitude and altitude. The fruit is a capsule about 1.5 cm (0.6 in) in length.
How to grow it
Its flowers contain a highly appreciated aromatic nectar, harvested by introduced European bees and commercialized as ulmo honey (miel de Ulmo).
The wood is light brown to brown, heavy, moderately firm, rather hard and quite resistant to decay. It is used locally for construction and very extensively as firewood.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Eucryphia cordifolia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.