Chilean Bellota
This tree reminds people of different things. An alien being? An octopus? An enormous stack of pancakes? What do you think?
Cryptocarya rubra planted about 1876.
This tree was definitely an experimental tree in 1876 and you still don't see that many of them even today. There was one on Berkeley campus, but it appears to be gone now.
Bellota means "Acorn" in Spanish.
How do you pronounce Bellota? Bay-yota like llama (yama). Bell-ota like a bell. Nope!
A Chilean visitor recognized it immediately when she visited for a sketch class. She said that the name (in Chile) is prounounced "Be-jjjjota". Her mother lives in Quillota (pronounced Qui-jjjjota). We wondered, can you eat the nuts and so she asked her mother. So, the answer? Yes, you can eat them, but only roasted, which must take care of the soapy-tasting saponins. Recipes anyone?
The Bellota is in the Lauraceae family - that family with other interesting members - avocado, the camphor tree, and the California bay laurel. The California bay laurel has similar looking nuts which are also roasted.
On the Endemic Plants of Chile website, you can see other Chilean plants, like the Chilean wine palm, which is anchoring the Japanese garden.
Oh, Nuts! The nuts when roasted are supposed to taste like coffee or chocolate. But one volunteer tried roasting them and says that is not true at all! She will try again and her results will be reported here.
The leaves are pleasantly fragrant when you crush them.
The unofficial term for this unusual bark is 'a stack of pancakes,' as an esteemed horticulturalist once said.
The nuts readily sprout in the Japanese garden. You can see the outside shell of the nut has fallen off and the inside of the nut has opened and is providing energy to the seedling.
Maybe it reminds you of that avocado pit that you sprouted?
The 1899 Distribution of Seeds and Plants listed a source of seed grown in Niles. From this tree? Charles Shinn was inspector for the University of California Experiment Station at that time. So it is entirely possible that there are trees from this mother tree elsewhere.
It is a Landmark Tree in Fremont.