Macqui (Aristotelia chilensis)

Family: Elaeocarpaceae | Edibility: Edible (3/5)

Aristotelia chilensis is an evergreen Shrub growing to 3 m (9ft) by 5 m (16ft). See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 8 and is frost tender. It is in leaf all year, in flower in May, and the seeds ripen from August to September. The species is dioecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but only one sex is to be found on any one plant so both male and female plants must be grown if seed is required).

Edible Parts & Harvest Seasons

Edible Parts: Fruit, Berries

Harvest Seasons: Early Summer, Fall, Late Summer

Flavor & Culinary Uses

pleasant taste somewhat like bilberries. — Fruit - raw or dried for winter use.; A pleasant taste somewhat like bilberries.; The fruit is rather small, about 6mm in diameter.

Habitat & North American Range

A weedy shrub of cleared forests and waste ground, growing in damp humus rich soils on lower mountain hillsides by rivers between latitudes 31 and 40° south. (Zone 7, Zone 8, Zone 9, Zone 10)