Appearance
It is a large, clump-forming herbaceous perennial growing to 2.5 m tall by 4 m or more. The leaves of Gunnera grow to an impressive size. Leaves with diameters well in excess of 4 ft are commonplace, with a spread of 10 ft by 10 ft on a mature plant. The underside of the leaf and the whole stalk have spikes on them. In early summer it bears tiny red-green flowers in conical branched panicles, followed by small, spherical fruit. However, it is primarily cultivated for its massive leaves.
Naming
Despite the common name, this plant is not closely related to the rhubarb. However, according to the San Francisco Botanical Gardens 'Collection' page it is edible when young.Peel the leaf stems, slice and enjoy raw in salads.References:
Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.
