2.1 | Study Organism
Jubaea chilensis is an arborescent and woody monocot, with a bare
and cylindrical stipe narrower towards the top, reaching up to 30m of
height and from 0.80 to 1.10m in diameter. It presents
diclino-monoecious unisexual flowers and the fruit is a drupe with a
single spherical seed of approximately 2–3cm (0.79–1.18 pol.) in
diameter. The fruit a hard endocarp (shell) and a whitish endosperm
(Angulo, 1985; Edwards, 1903; Fleury et al., 2015; Rodríguez et al.,
1983). The dispersed seeds germinate up to four years, forming
persistent seed banks. Although the species adapts very well to its
environment, the first stages of growth in which the seedlings must
survive under the canopy are critical for its permanence (González &
Vita, 1987), especially in understory of sclerophyllous and/or spiny
species (Del Fierro et al., 1998). It is considered a shade-tolerant
species (González, 1985) that coexists with other species such asAcacia caven (Molina) Molina, Crinodendron patagua Mol.,Cryptocarya alba (Molina) Looser, Drimys winteri J.R.
Forst. & G.Forst., Persea lingue Miers ex Bertero Nees,Quillaja saponaria Molina, Peumus boldus Molina, among
others (González, 1985; González et al., 2017). J. chilensis’natural populations are distributed from La Serena (29º 54 ’S - 71º 15º
W) in the Coquimbo Region to Tapihue - Pencague (35º 15’ S - 71º 47 ’W)
in the Maule Region. It inhabits warm climate areas with dry summers and
coastal areas with coastal influence (Angulo, 1985; Donoso, 1981) from
sea level to approximately 1.400 msnm (Hechenleitner et al., 2005)
tolerating temperatures from 2.9ºC to 30.8ºC, with precipitations
ranging from 127 to 879 mm (Del Fierro et al., 1998; González et al.,
2017).