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Aristotelia chilensis (Maqui or Chilean Wineberry) is a species of the Elaeocarpaceae family native to the Valdivian temperate rainforests of Chile and adjacent regions of southern Argentina. Maqui is sparly cultivated.

Tree
It is a small dioecious tree reaching 4-5 m in height, evergreen, and with a divided trunk with smooth bark. Its branches are abundant, thin and flexible. Its leaves are simple, opposite, pendulous, oval-lanceolate, with serrated edges, glabrous, coriaceous with venation and strong red petioles. In the beginning of spring the tree sheds the old cohort. The old cohort is used as a carbonhydrate source to form the new leaves and flowers.

Flowers and berries
Maqui flowers at the end of spring. The white flowers are unisexual and small. They yield a small edible fruit (maqui berry). A tree at the age of seven years produces up to 10 kg berries per year. The berries are a favored food for birds at the end of summer. The seed distribution by birds is important for genetic diversity. The deforestation of the Valdivian temperate rainforests of Chile prohibit the seed dispersal by birds and leads to an inbreeding depression. The small, purple-black berries are approximately 4-6 mm in diameter and contain 4-8 angled seeds. They taste reminding of blackberries, watermelon, and acai berries. The maqui berry is also known as the Chilean wineberry, and locally in Spanish as maqui or maque.

Cultivated Maqui
Maqui is planted in home gardens and is not grown on orchard scale. Most of the the fruits on the market come from the wild.

Agronomy
Maqui is frost sensitive and fairly tolerant of maritime exposure. It prefers a well-drained soil in full sun with a protection against cold drying winds. The soil should be slightly acid and moderate fertile. Maqui can be planted in USDA- zone 8 to 12. It is known that it is cultivated in Spain and in the milder and moister areas of Britain. Even in this area in Britain the plants are cut back by winter frosts. The plants react to the thinning by frost with a production of more shoots in spring.

Propagation
The seeds germinate without cold stratification. In zones with the possible appearance of frost it is recommended to sow in spring in a greenhouse. The plants are planted in autumn into individual pots if they are grown enough. The pots are still in the greenhouse for the first winter. After the last expected frost in spring the plants can be planted out into their finally positions. In their first winter outdoors a frost protection is required. For further propagation a vegetal reproduction is possible. Cuttings of wood with a length of 15 to 30 cm can be planted in pots. These cuttings normally root and can be planted out in the following spring.

Wild Maqui
The main area of wild Maqui can be found in the Chilean Forests. It includes the Comquinmbo and Aysen Region and is 170’000 hectares. The average area yield is about 220 kg per hectare în one year. On this results a potential production of 37'400 tons of fresh berries per year. The real estimated production is about 90 tons per year because most of the Maqui area is very difficult to access.

Harvesting
The Berries are collected in the time from December to March each year. The collecting time depends on the geographical position. Each season 2000 families, mainly Mapuche families, work in the process of collecting the berries. This work is financially important for the Mapuche families. The workers move to the collection area with high prescence of Maqui near the Andes Mountains by their own.

The first harvest process is to collect the side branches of the trees and take them to one spot. In a next step they bang the branches to separate the berries and the leaf blades from the branches. They take the branches again under the trees for decomposition. Then a mechanic process separates the berries from leaf blades. The stored fruits are finally sold. The supply for Maqui berries is very low at the local market. The price ranges from 0.65 US $ to 1.5 U.S. $ per 100 g.

Polyphenols
Only limited polyphenol research has been completed on the maqui berry showing its anthocyanin content includes eight glucoside pigments of delphinidin and cyanidin, the principal anthocyanin being delphinidin 3-sambubioside-5-glucoside (34% of total anthocyanins). The average total anthocyanin content was 138 mg per 100 g of fresh fruit (212 mg per 100g of dry fruit) placing maqui low among berries for anthocyanin content (see Anthocyanins for tabulated content data).

Anthocyanins are also present in maqui leaves.

Benefits
The anthocyanin rich extract of Maqui berries has health- promoting properties which are researched by several studies. In a research with mice the extract had a protective effect against ischaemia by reperfusion heart damage. In vitro studies proposes the inhibition of adipogenese and inflammation and the avoiding of LDL oxidation. The antioxidant activity of Anthocyanin can maybe prohibit the oxidative damage of cells such as skin cells. Other studies evidence an anti-diabetic effect.

In the traditional Chilean medicine the extract of Aristotelia chilensis has been used to trait diarrhea, inflammation and fever.

Uses
The Maqui berries are an interesting source of anthocyanin and are used for food and pharmaceutic. For this, the Maqui are raw, dried or processed into jam, juice, an astringent or as an ingredient in processed foods or beverages. It has been planted in Spain.

History
According to myths, the edible fruit was eaten by the Mapuche Indians. Claude Gay documented in 1844 that natives used maqui to prepare chicha as may have been referenced in his "Physical Atlas of History and Politics of Chile". The chicha may have contributed to an extraordinary strength and stamina for the warriors. The Mapuche Indians have used berry leaves, stems, fruit and wine medicinally for thousand of years.