Azara microphylla
Sponsor
Kindly sponsored by
Jane Furse
Credits
Martin F. Gardner & Sabina G. Knees (2025)
Recommended citation
Gardner, M.F. & Knees, S.G. (2025), 'Azara microphylla' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Common Names
- Chinchín
- Boxleaf azara
Synonyms
- Azara borealis F.Phil. ex Phil.
- Azara valdiviae Lechl. ex Steud.
- Myrtophyllum chilense Turcz
Infraspecifics
Shrub or small, slender tree up to 8 m tall, branches glabrous, young twigs densely covered with stiff white hairs. Leaves obovate to lanceolate, 8–20 × 4–15 mm, entire or with 1–3 teeth, glabrous, shiny, dark bottle-green above but much paler beneath. Stipules 4–10 mm, obovate to orbicular, sometimes emarginate. Flowers golden-yellow, 3–7, borne in short corymbs, vanilla scented. Sepals 4 or 5, 1 mm long, glabrous except on margins. Stamens 4 or 5. Nectaries 4. Flowering February to March. Berry globose, 3–4 mm across; seeds 2 or 3, red. (Cullen et al. 2011; Rodríguez & Marticorena 2019; Sleumer 1977).
Distribution Argentina Provinces of: Chubut, Neuquén, Río Negro Chile Regions of: Coquimbo, Maule, Ñuble, Biobío, Araucanía, Los Ríos, Los Lagos, Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo
Habitat Azara microphylla is native to Chile and adjacent forested areas of southern Argentina. In Chile it has a vast latitudinal range spanning about 1700 km, from the disjunct relictual forest of Fray Jorge on the southern margin of the Atacama Desert, south to the much wetter Aysén Region. Within this distribution, it has an altitudinal range from 35 to 2000 m, but its upper limit is mostly around 1000 m. The main distribution is in southern Chile, both in the coastal mountain range and the Andes, where it forms an understory species in temperate rainforests. It is frequently found in Araucaria araucana forests along with Nothofagus antarctica, N. dombeyi and N. obliqua. In the 'fog forests' of Fray Jorge, it occurs with Aextoxicon punctatum, Azara celastrina, Drimys winteri, Myrceugenia correifolia and Rhaphithamnus spinosus.
USDA Hardiness Zone 7b-8
RHS Hardiness Rating H5
Awards FCC (1872)
Conservation status Not evaluated (NE)
Azara microphylla was first described in 1845 by Joseph Dalton Hooker who published the new name in Flora Antarctica (Hooker 1845), one of his most celebrated works where he published the names of about 3000 new species. Hooker based his description of A. microphylla on herbarium specimens collected from the Island of Chiloé by Captain King and specimens collected by Thomas Bridges (Bridges 560) who had gathered his material from trees on the slopes of the Andes in the Province of Valdivia. It was some 15 years later, in about 1861, when Richard Pearce first introduced seed through the nursery enterprise Messrs. Veitch & Sons. A short article in the Gardeners’ Chronicle (Anon 1874) announced the introduction to cultivation under the heading ‘New Garden Plants’ and included a fine black and white illustration.
Even though Azara microphylla is not known for its showy flowers (certainly when compared to those of A. lanceolata and A. serrata), it has been widely grown in the UK and Ireland and has proved to be the most hardy of all the Azara species. It forms a most charming small tree furnished with very attractive deep green, glossy leaves and although its flowers are inconspicuous they make their presence known by having the most powerful vanilla scent, often described as chocolatey, that pervades any garden setting in early spring. It is mostly seen grown against walls, but it is equally happy when grown in a woodland situation. The largest trees recorded by the Tree Register (The Tree Register 2024) are a specimen of 13.5 m (in 2004) at Myra Castle, Co. Down, Northern Ireland, and one at Trewithen, Cornwall, measuring 12 m in 2014. In Scotland there is also a fine specimen in the old walled garden of Belleisle Park which in 2012 measured 11 m tall. A. microphylla is also cultivated in Australia, Europe (especially Spain – Sánchez de Lorenzo Cáceres 2007), and is widely cultivated in New Zealand, where in 1982 it was registered as being fully naturalised (Webb, Sykes & Garnock-Jones 1988). It is commonly cultivated in western North America, especially in Oregon, Washington (grown in Seattle since 1893), British Columbia (close to the coast) and in California where it has been offered for sale in the nursery trade since 1895 or earlier (Jacobson 2006).
Azara microphylla has a mutualistic relationship with the fascinating diminutive arboreal marsupial Dromiciops gliroides, locally known as monito del monte (monkey of the mountain). This nocturnal species, which is endemic to the temperate forests of Argentina and Chile, has a frugivorous diet that includes the fleshy fruits of many rainforest species and is considered a very important disperser of woody species. Research has discovered that when seeds of A. microphylla (and that of Aristotelia chilensis) passed through the digestive tract of D. gliroides, they had a significantly higher germination rate than non-ingested seeds (Amico, Rodríguez-Cabal & Aizen 2009). Garden plants sometimes set viable fruit; it would be worth simulating p;assage through a digestive tract to achieve a higher germination rate by stimulating the seed, perhaps in the form of warm and cold stratification.
'Variegata'
Common Names
Variegated box-leaf azara
Synonyms / alternative names
Azara microphylla 'Belgroveana'
Awards
AM (2002)
This slow-growing shrub or small tree, which has glossy dark green leaves attractively edged with creamy white markings, is relatively common in cultivation. Moore, who was so impressed with the original tree growing in William Edward Gumbleton’s garden at Belgrove House, County Cork, commented ‘[it] looks like pure gold in the sunshine’ (Moore 1921). This plant was named ‘Belgroveana’ under which it was mentioned in an article on the garden at Belgrove House (Arnott 1908) in which it was described as ‘… exceedingly large and well developed’. Never-the-less even as a mature tree it was so sought after that on the death of Gumbleton in 1911 it was auctioned and acquired by Richard Reamish for his garden at Ashbourne House, County Cork (Nelson 2000). Nelson goes on to say that even though the cultivar name ‘Belgroveana’ predates that of ‘Variegata’, the latter should be maintained because of its common usage. The cultivar name ‘Albovariegata’ is sometimes used but its status is uncertain. It may have beem used in error for A. microphylla ‘Variegata’.
Many notable specimens of Azara microphylla ‘Variegata’ are recorded from the UK and Ireland. Those trees with up-to-date measurements made during the last 10 years include: Hinton Park, Hampshire (9.5 m), Mount Usher, Wicklow (8 m), Iford Manor, Wiltshire (8 m), Leonardslee, West Sussex and Painswick House, Gloucestershire (both 7 m) (The Tree Register 2025). It is also cultivated in favourable parts of Australia and New Zealand, and in the USA it has been cultivated since at least 1966 (Jacobson 2006). Jacobson laments this cultivar by saying ‘…it has leaves variegated with creamy white, so it lights up dark garden corners wonderfully’; the tallest tree he is aware of in the USA is one of c. 7.5 m planted in Seattle in the 1990s.
