Editing Aristotelia chilensis

{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; width: 320px; margin-left: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 1em;"
! colspan="2" style="background: #e8e8e8;" | Maqui (''Aristotelia chilensis'')
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | [[File:Aristotelia chilensis - General view - 01.JPG|300px|Mature maqui shrub in native Valdivian temperate forest, Los Alerces National Park, Argentina]]
|-
! Scientific name
| ''Aristotelia chilensis''
|-
! Common names
| Maqui (maquei); Chilean wineberry; clon; queldron
|-
! Genus
| [[Aristotelia]]
|-
! Family
| [[Elaeocarpaceae]]
|-
! Order
| [[Oxalidales]]
|-
! Growth habit
| Evergreen shrub or small tree; commonly about 3–5 m, to 10 m recorded in a food-industry review
|-
! Native range
| Central and southern Chile to adjacent Argentina; introduced on the Juan Fernández Islands
|-
! Habitat
| Moist, well-drained soils from Mediterranean to humid temperate forest, coast to about 2,500 m
|-
! Fruit
| Small, edible, dark purple-black berry, about 4–6 mm, with 1–8 angular seeds
|-
! Fruiting season
| December–February in Chile (summer)
|-
! Pollination
| Dioecious; insect-pollinated; male and female plants needed for seed
|-
! Years to fruit
| Rooted cuttings can flower within a year; first-season flowers often set no fruit
|}

''Aristotelia chilensis'' is an evergreen shrub or small tree of the family Elaeocarpaceae, native to central and southern Chile and to adjacent Argentina, with a documented introduction on the Juan Fernández Islands.<sup id="cite_ref-1">[[#cite_note-1|[1]]]</sup> Its small, dark berries, called maqui or maquei, are gathered and processed for juice, wine coloring, and food use; the plant is also sold in the nursery trade as the Chilean wineberry.<sup id="cite_ref-2">[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup>

== Description ==

Maqui is commonly described at 4–5 m in Chilean botanical accounts,<sup id="cite_ref-3">[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup> around 3 m in a temperate-zone horticultural database,<sup id="cite_ref-4">[[#cite_note-4|[4]]]</sup> and up to 10 m in a food-industry review; the same review describes a thin tree about 30–35 cm in girth.<sup id="cite_ref-5">[[#cite_note-5|[5]]]</sup> Plants are dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants, pale yellow, 5–6 mm across, borne two to four per node in spring (October–November in Chile).<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-5|[5]]]</sup> The fruit is a round, edible, dark purple-black berry about 5–6 mm across with one to eight angular seeds.<sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-4|[4]]]</sup> In its native range the species spans a wide band from the Limarí region (about 30° S, Coquimbo) to Aisén (about 45° S), from the coast to about 2,500 m elevation, and into the Andean region of Argentina.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup>

== Cultivation ==

=== Soil and water ===

Maqui is associated with moist, well-drained soils and tolerates dry periods once established.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup> The horticultural database recommends a slightly acid, moderately fertile, well-drained soil in a sunny, sheltered position, away from cold drying winds, and describes the plant as fairly tolerant of maritime exposure.<sup>[[#cite_note-4|[4]]]</sup> In the Chilean common-garden trial at Talca, productive plants grew in an alfisol sandy clay loam at pH 6.1 with drip irrigation from October to March; the 45 tested clones originated from sites spanning 552–2,265 mm annual rainfall and 10.8–14.0 °C mean annual temperature, which is a good measure of the species' climatic flexibility.<sup id="cite_ref-6">[[#cite_note-6|[6]]]</sup>

=== Sun and humidity ===

Full sun favors flowering. In a container trial of three clones at Talca, a 50% shade net cut flower numbers to about 24% of the open-sun control and sharply reduced fruit set, while plants under the nets grew taller with longer internodes; the authors concluded that flower number, and therefore fruit production, is limited by reduced irradiation.<sup id="cite_ref-7">[[#cite_note-7|[7]]]</sup> Leaves saturate at roughly 600–800 µmol photons m⁻² s⁻¹, so bright light is not wasted below that range.<sup>[[#cite_note-7|[7]]]</sup> The database statement that maqui "cannot grow in the shade" matches this trial result at the flowering level.<sup>[[#cite_note-4|[4]]]</sup> Hot-arid growers add an establishment caveat: young trunks and branches sunburn readily in the first year or two and benefit from whitewash or white-clay protection, afternoon shade, heavy woodchip mulch, and a protected microclimate; one Las Vegas grower lost four of five young plants before one settled in.<sup id="cite_ref-8">[[#cite_note-8|[8]]]</sup> A Brisbane grower, in a warm subtropical climate, reported that plants "need shade and water" there.<sup id="cite_ref-9">[[#cite_note-9|[9]]]</sup> The apparent contradiction resolves into a simple rule: full sun for mature flowering plants, protective shade and shade-paint only while young and in harsh summer climates.

=== Seasonal changes ===

In Chile the flowering season runs roughly October–December and the crop is harvested once a year from December to February.<sup>[[#cite_note-5|[5]]]</sup> In the common-garden trial, ripening from green through reddish to black-purple took about one month, with provenance and clone differences in timing and no clear north–south cline.<sup>[[#cite_note-6|[6]]]</sup> The species is frost-tender at about hardy-to-UK-zone-8 levels; winter frosts can cut plants back, and they normally respond with a crowd of vigorous spring shoots that need thinning.<sup>[[#cite_note-4|[4]]]</sup> An early-September frost of −1.5 °C in the Talca trial damaged the earliest flower buds, and the earliest-blooming clone lost the most.<sup>[[#cite_note-7|[7]]]</sup> In the Las Vegas climate the survivor kept its leaves through winter and handled both summer heat and winter cold, with first fruit in its second season.<sup>[[#cite_note-8|[8]]]</sup> Translate the native calendar this way: in Mediterranean climates, provide moisture through the warm, dry growing season (roughly the Chilean October–March pattern) and spare plants from hard late frosts where spring warms early.

== Propagation ==

Seed germinates without pretreatment but slowly and modestly. In an in-vitro study of a central-Chile seed batch, untreated seeds reached about 60–64% final germination with a mean germination time near 42 days; cutting part of the testa opposite the caruncular scar raised final germination to about 92% and shortened mean time to about 21 days, while eight weeks of cold stratification at 4 °C gave the fastest initial germination (mean 18 days) and about 76% final germination.<sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup> The same authors describe the seed as having moderate primary dormancy, both exogenous and endogenous, cite an earlier recommendation to soak seeds 48–72 hours in cold water before sowing, and report field germination of 34–63% from a prior study.<sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup> Because maqui is dioecious, seed-raised plants are also of unknown sex for years, which is why experienced growers push cuttings: "cuttings are the way to go," one desert grower concluded, "plus there's the whole issue of needing male and female plants from seeds, and having to wait years to see what you get."<sup>[[#cite_note-8|[8]]]</sup>

Cuttings are the standard route. The database advises cuttings of half-ripe wood in July/August in a frame, or mature current-season wood in early winter, taken 15–30 cm long, which "normally root very easily."<sup>[[#cite_note-4|[4]]]</sup> Both the Chilean trials and the commercial programs use rooted cuttings, typically around 30 cm tall at planting.<sup>[[#cite_note-6|[6]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-7|[7]]]</sup> Micropropagation is feasible and documented in detail,<sup id="cite_ref-10">[[#cite_note-10|[10]]]</sup> and biotechnology work continues on eliciting phenolic production in micropropagated plants.<sup id="cite_ref-11">[[#cite_note-11|[11]]]</sup> A field comparison found, however, that micropropagated plantlets showed a juvenility delay in fruiting relative to rooted cuttings: in the first spring, clones flowered as rooted cuttings while the plantlets of three of six genotypes did not, and two genotypes waited until the following year.<sup id="cite_ref-12">[[#cite_note-12|[12]]]</sup>

== Flowering, fruiting, and harvest ==

[[File:Aristotelia chilensis - flower - 01.JPG|left|220px|Maqui flowers (the species is dioecious, with unisexual flowers)]]

Flowering is dioecious and insect-assisted: the species carries male and female flowers on separate plants,<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup> the Talca authors observed that female flowers are mainly pollinated by insects,<sup>[[#cite_note-7|[7]]]</sup> and the common-garden design placed five male clones in a central row to supply pollen.<sup>[[#cite_note-6|[6]]]</sup> First-season flowering is often show-only: a Las Vegas grower reported no fruit from the first year's flowers, then heavy flowering and fruit set in year two, and the same first-year-empty pattern appeared in the Chilean trials, where only a few plants produced flower buds during the first season.<sup>[[#cite_note-8|[8]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-7|[7]]]</sup> Ripening takes about a month from green to black-purple, timed per provenance and clone rather than by a fixed calendar.<sup>[[#cite_note-6|[6]]]</sup>

For harvest, the pruning study is explicit: reproductive buds form in spring on the elongation of the fruit-bearing branches and sprout the following season, so the traditional wildcraft practice of cutting the whole bearing branch suppresses the following season's yield.<sup id="cite_ref-13">[[#cite_note-13|[13]]]</sup> In a Chilean trial on three-year-old plants, heading the first two apical buds of every branch in spring (September) produced more branches and higher fruit yield over the following seasons than the same heading done in summer (January), by removing apical dominance and stimulating lateral buds.<sup>[[#cite_note-13|[13]]]</sup> The authors recommend constant branch renewal plus spring heading of apical sprouts, especially on vigorous clones, to keep plants moderate-sized while producing high yields.<sup>[[#cite_note-13|[13]]]</sup>

== Fruit and uses ==

[[File:Aristotelia chilensis - Fruits.jpg|right|220px|Ripening maqui berries on a cultivated plant, Jardin des Plantes, Paris]]

The berries are eaten fresh or dried for winter use, and are processed into juice, jam, and liqueur.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-4|[4]]]</sup> Maqui juice and powder have been used to color red wine since the late nineteenth century, when substantial Chilean exports of the coloring fruit reached Europe.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup> Flavor accounts vary with ripeness and maturity: the database calls the fruit "a pleasant taste somewhat like bilberries,"<sup>[[#cite_note-4|[4]]]</sup> while a Portuguese grower describes it as "acid but not too much and not adstringent" and very small, adding that he grows it for reputed health value rather than flavor;<sup id="cite_ref-14">[[#cite_note-14|[14]]]</sup> a Las Vegas grower's first-year berries "taste like dry soap," with firm, juiceless flesh and still-green seeds, which he attributed to first-year fruit.<sup>[[#cite_note-8|[8]]]</sup>

Reported nutrition for a 100 g edible portion includes about 150 kcal, 0.8 g protein, 2.9 g lipids, 87 mg calcium, 44 mg phosphorus, 30.5 mg iron, 296 mg potassium, and a dry-basis fiber figure near 53 g; values shift with fresh, dried, or juice form.<sup>[[#cite_note-5|[5]]]</sup> The fruit is reported to carry unusually high anthocyanin levels, about 32 g per kg fresh weight, two to thirty-two times the levels listed for elderberry, black currant, red cabbage, and red radish, and maqui juice has been measured at higher antioxidant capacity (TEAC) than pomegranate, blueberry, acai, or cranberry juice in a compiled comparison.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup> In traditional use, a leaf infusion has been used for mouth sores, diarrhea, pharyngitis and tonsillitis, as a febrifuge and analgesic, and for wound healing, and the fruit has been used for diarrhea.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup> These folk uses are context, not medical advice.

== Cultivars and selections ==

The Talca domestication program has characterized three commercial female clones for high fruit production: 'Luna Nueva', 'Morena', and 'Perla Negra'.<sup>[[#cite_note-7|[7]]]</sup> 'Luna Nueva' was the earliest bloomer and most floriferous of the three, which also made it the most exposed to late-winter frost loss.<sup>[[#cite_note-7|[7]]]</sup> Under a 50% shade net, 'Luna Nueva' still produced about 21% fewer flowers and 43% fewer fruit than its open-sun control, while 'Morena' and 'Perla Negra' produced none or very few fruit under the net; Perla Negra showed the strongest CO₂ assimilation under the net, and Morena was the most stable clone across light treatments.<sup>[[#cite_note-7|[7]]]</sup> Numbered breeding selections are in replicated trials: clone 304 more than doubled fruit number and quadrupled dry weight relative to clone 528, and the general trial mean for the evaluated season was about 2.3 m tree height with 64.8% crown density.<sup>[[#cite_note-6|[6]]]</sup> The program states it is developing three female and three male varieties for commercial cultivation.<sup>[[#cite_note-12|[12]]]</sup>

US nurseries sell "self-fertile" or "hermaphroditic" maqui selections; One Green World reportedly offers a self-fruitful variety from Cistus Nursery, and Restoring Eden and Wanderlust Nursery sell rooted cuttings labeled hermaphroditic.<sup id="cite_ref-15">[[#cite_note-15|[15]]]</sup> These are commercial labels rather than documented cultivars, and they sit against the botanical baseline of dioecy; treat any single-plant fruit set as an anecdote of a selected clone, not a species-wide trait. Growers can, however, use them to sidestep the usual male-plus-female requirement in a small planting.<sup>[[#cite_note-8|[8]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-14|[14]]]</sup>

== Photos ==

[[File:Aristotelia chilensis, fruit (8661889792).jpg|300px|Close view of maqui fruit]]
[[File:Bayas de Maqui en su árbol.jpg|300px|Maqui berries on the plant, Quellon, Chiloe, Chile]]
[[File:Aristotelia chilensis kz01.jpg|300px|Maqui in a Chilean national park habitat (Biobio Region)]]

== References ==

* <span id="cite_note-1"></span>[[#cite_ref-1|↑]] '''[1]''' [https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:19666-2 Aristotelia chilensis - Plants of the World Online, Kew Science].

* <span id="cite_note-2"></span>[[#cite_ref-2|↑]] '''[2]''' [https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/aristotelia-chilensis Aristotelia chilensis - topic compilation (ScienceDirect Topics): common names, native range, flowers, fruit, uses, anthocyanins, traditional uses].

* <span id="cite_note-3"></span>[[#cite_ref-3|↑]] '''[3]''' [https://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0717-66432017000200282 Efecto de la escarificación y estratificación sobre la germinación in vitro de Aristotelia chilensis - Gayana Botanica 74(2), 2017].

* <span id="cite_note-4"></span>[[#cite_ref-4|↑]] '''[4]''' [https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Aristotelia%20chilensis Aristotelia chilensis - Plants for a Future database].

* <span id="cite_note-5"></span>[[#cite_ref-5|↑]] '''[5]''' [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10969556/ A Review of the Functional Characteristics and Applications of Aristotelia chilensis (Maqui Berry) in the Food Industry - Foods 13(6), 2024].

* <span id="cite_note-6"></span>[[#cite_ref-6|↑]] '''[6]''' [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04013-0 Phenotypic variation of fruit and ecophysiological traits among maqui provenances established in a common garden - Scientific Reports 11, 2021].

* <span id="cite_note-7"></span>[[#cite_ref-7|↑]] '''[7]''' [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3233/JBR-180377 Different covers affect growth and development of three maqui clones - Journal of Berry Research 9(3), 2019].

* <span id="cite_note-8"></span>[[#cite_ref-8|↑]] '''[8]''' [https://www.tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=47555.0 Growing Maqui berry in the desert - TropicalFruitForum topic 47555 (Fygee, Las Vegas)].

* <span id="cite_note-9"></span>[[#cite_ref-9|↑]] '''[9]''' [https://www.tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=11007.0 Aristotelia chilensis / Maqui Wineberry - TropicalFruitForum topic 11007 (BMc, Brisbane)].

* <span id="cite_note-10"></span>[[#cite_ref-10|↑]] '''[10]''' [https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/11/1/37 Comparative Study of Metabolomic Profile and Antioxidant Content of Adult and In Vitro Leaves of Aristotelia chilensis - Plants 11(1), 2022].

* <span id="cite_note-11"></span>[[#cite_ref-11|↑]] '''[11]''' [https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-021-02097-0 Elicitation of phenylpropanoids in maqui plants micropropagated in temporarily immersed systems - Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture, 2021].

* <span id="cite_note-12"></span>[[#cite_ref-12|↑]] '''[12]''' [https://omicsonline.org/proceedings/juvenility-in-micropropagated-plantlets-versus-rooted-cuttings-of-maqui-aristotelia-chilensis-107182.html Juvenility in micropropagated plantlets versus rooted cuttings of maqui - poster abstract, 14th International Conference on Agriculture and Horticulture].

* <span id="cite_note-13"></span>[[#cite_ref-13|↑]] '''[13]''' [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214786116301164 Pruning maqui (Aristotelia chilensis) to optimize fruit production - Journal of Applied Research on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants 6, 2017].

* <span id="cite_note-14"></span>[[#cite_ref-14|↑]] '''[14]''' [https://growingfruit.org/t/my-small-fruit-tree-orchard/19936?page=171 My small fruit tree orchard - GrowingFruit.org thread, page 171 (Luisport, Portugal)].

* <span id="cite_note-15"></span>[[#cite_ref-15|↑]] '''[15]''' [https://growingfruit.org/t/anyone-growing-maqui-berry/81847 Anyone growing maqui berry? - GrowingFruit.org thread 81847 (Thistleberry; Luisport; One Green World nursery claims)].

== Image credits ==

* ''Aristotelia chilensis - General view - 01.JPG'': mature maqui shrub in native Valdivian temperate forest, Los Alerces National Park, Argentina; photograph by Gagea; [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0 CC BY-SA 3.0]; [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aristotelia_chilensis_-_General_view_-_01.JPG File page].

* ''Aristotelia chilensis - flower - 01.JPG'': maqui flowers (the species is dioecious, with unisexual flowers); photograph by Gagea; [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0 CC BY-SA 3.0]; [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aristotelia_chilensis_-_flower_-_01.JPG File page].

* ''Aristotelia chilensis - Fruits.jpg'': ripening maqui berries on a cultivated plant, Jardin des Plantes, Paris; photograph by Denis.prevot; [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0 CC BY-SA 3.0]; [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aristotelia_chilensis_-_Fruits.jpg File page].

* ''Aristotelia chilensis, fruit (8661889792).jpg'': close view of maqui fruit; photograph by Dick Culbert; [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 CC BY 2.0]; [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aristotelia_chilensis,_fruit_(8661889792).jpg File page].

* ''Bayas de Maqui en su árbol.jpg'': maqui berries on the plant, Quellon, Chiloe, Chile; photograph by Sadlola; [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0 CC BY-SA 4.0]; [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bayas_de_Maqui_en_su_%C3%A1rbol.jpg File page].

* ''Aristotelia chilensis kz01.jpg'': maqui in a Chilean national park habitat (Biobio Region); photograph by Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz; [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC BY 4.0]; [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aristotelia_chilensis_kz01.jpg File page].