Description: Large deciduous tree with whorled, stout, ascending shoots in a narrow cone in young trees; broadly conic in old trees, with upper branches ascending, lower foliage dense and somewhat pendulous.

Height: to 25m. Diameter: 0.5-1m

Leaves: Bud narrowly conic, angled, 1 cm, bright chestnut-brown. New leaves copper-brown, then fresh yellow-green to somewhat dark; silky hairs on veins beneath; oblong or narrowly oval, blunt or rounded at apex, rounded or broadly wedge-shaped at base, 4-10×2-4 cm; petiole 5-10mm. Finely serrulate, slightly wavy margin on bigger leaves, often slightly lobulate on smaller; 15-20 pairs of prominent, impressed veins. Autumn colours pale gold with some crimson.

Bark: on young shoots green, then dark brown, much roughened by small warts. Grey-green much marked by lenticels, becoming silvery-grey, finely striped horizontally in grey brown and pink; later duller, with many evenly spaced, dark, broad fissures running far up bole and larger branches. Frequent small bosses on bole.

Flowers: Males flattened globose 1cm; pale pink-brown bracts and long brown-green anthers; on 1.5cm green pedicel.

Fruit: At base of each leaf, 1cm, deep green, covered in filigree of deeply lacinate appendages; three nutlets.

Habitat: Mixed forests with N. dombeyi and sometimes N. obliqua, though generally grows at higher altitudes than the latter, favouring cooler moister conditions. The former dominates in climax, as N. procera is eventually shaded out, but both thrive equally after natural clearance.

Range: Chilean Andes from 35° 30' S to just south of 40° S. It also occurs in the coastal range and has a few stands in Argentina near the Chilean frontier. Best stands now confined to 38-40° S after over exploitation.

Introduced in 1910 by F.R.S. Balfour, and again in 1913 when W.J. Bean at Kew received seeds from the Dendrological Society of France. A quick-growing tree in rainer parts of the UK: shoots of up to 1.6m, specimens to 14m in nine years from seed and to 2m girth in 30 years. Buds start to open in March but often held back by cold until height growth starts in late April, continuing to early September, up to 15cm per week. Remarkable in its early years for its mast-like stem evenly tapered from the base and its slender, ascending branches. There are occasional casualties in very hard winters. Good crops of seed are produced in mast years by trees over 20 years old.

Note: the tree is often seen in cultivation referred to as Nothofagus alpina, which can give rise to some confusion. This species was originally described as Fagus procera by Poepp. & Endl., who also described Fagus alpina at the same time. The latter may be a small-leaved form of the former and the two have been united under the name N. alpina by the Chilean botanist Dr. Muñoz Pizarro. This name would stand if the species were united; however, it has been suggested that N. alpina is a natural hybrid N. procera × pumilio. On this basis, and particularly as the tree we have was supplied as N. procera by Weasdale, it has been decided here to refer it to Nothofagus procera (Poepp. & Endl.) Oerst.

Information: Mitchell (1988), Leathart (1991), Bean III.

Source: Weasdale Nurseries, Newbiggin-on-Lune, Cumbria.

Purchased: 1993.03.16, one at 2-3'

Planted: April 1993: isolated on west side of front field.

Progress: the tree took a while to get started, but is now getting into its stride and putting on up to a metre each year. Had reached 3.8 m on 1998.10.07.

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