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Azara microphylla; photograph (c) Cesar Ormazabal, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Cesar Ormazabal, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-05-09

Azara microphylla Hook.f.

Box-leaf azara; Chinchin

Salicaceae · Argentina South, Chile Central +1

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Azara microphylla Hook.f.: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, Hook.fil.

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Sow seed
Azara microphylla, photograph (c) Christopher Hynes, some rights reserved (CC BY)Azara microphylla, photograph (c) Christopher Hynes, some rights reserved (CC BY)Azara microphylla, photograph (c) Christopher Hynes, some rights reserved (CC BY)Azara microphylla, photograph (c) Christopher Hynes, some rights reserved (CC BY)Azara microphylla, photograph (c) Cesar Ormazabal, some rights reserved (CC BY)Azara microphylla, photograph (c) Cesar Ormazabal, some rights reserved (CC BY) 68 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-4.5°C
Record low -10.1 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
22°C
Feb at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,128mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
10–50DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet winters: the rain comes October to March (April to September at the habitat), read as a winter growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Azara microphylla, the boxleaf azara, is a species of flowering plant in the willow family Salicaceae, native to Chile and Argentina. Growing to 10 metres (33 ft), it is a small, upright, evergreen tree or large shrub. It has small, shiny, very dark green leaves and tiny, vanilla-scented flowers in winter. It is the hardiest of the azaras, withstanding temperatures down to −15 °C (5 °F), but in cooler temperate regions requires some protection from cold winds. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Azara microphylla", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,665 mm of 2,156 mm) falls in April to September, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 6.2 °C against a yearly mean of 9.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: October to March.

Rain

2,156 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,665 mm of it April to September. Wettest month June at 397 mm, driest month February at 55 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,349 mm to 3,489 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,128 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,156 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 10 to 50 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 8, the highest 90th-percentile month 55).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -4.5 °C, the absolute minimum -10.1 °C, 2,274 frost nights in 44 years, 51.7 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.2 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 0.8 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range -1.5 °C to 4.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 21.5 °C in February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -4.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 58 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +299 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Azara microphylla through the yearWarmest month February, mean daily high 22 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 0.8 °C; 2,156 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost33.2° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-10.1° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 10–50RH 58–67%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 105 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C21 / 19–2322 / 20–2419 / 17–2115 / 13–1712 / 9–149 / 5–128 / 5–129 / 6–1312 / 8–1414 / 11–1617 / 14–1919 / 17–22
Night °C10 / 8–1210 / 8–139 / 7–126 / 4–94 / 2–72 / -1–51 / -2–41 / -1–52 / 0–54 / 1–76 / 4–98 / 6–11
Rain mm60 / 30–12055 / 31–8881 / 46–152164 / 97–268341 / 190–566397 / 232–664329 / 174–528271 / 157–431163 / 106–255134 / 85–22892 / 55–16469 / 37–129
DLI50 / 45–5544 / 39–4832 / 28–3721 / 18–2513 / 11–1610 / 8–1212 / 10–1417 / 14–2027 / 24–3036 / 32–4044 / 39–5049 / 44–55
RH %58 / 53–6158 / 54–6060 / 55–6363 / 57–6565 / 59–6867 / 61–7065 / 59–6864 / 59–6662 / 59–6562 / 59–6461 / 57–6460 / 55–62
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 105 grid cells holding the 174 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2536:2167 (-36.825, -71.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -10.1 °C, 1st-percentile night -4.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.2 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 105 distinct grid cells holding 174 of the 174 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2536:2167 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -37.00_-71.875, lapse-corrected +299 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 924 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeArgentina South, Chile Central, Chile South · introduced: New Zealand South · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-40.134, -71.328 · in the densest population, 131 records (62% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 210 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 174 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 52 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 99 km away. 41 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 36 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 210 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Azara microphylla, photograph 1did not loadAzara microphylla, photograph 2did not loadAzara microphylla, photograph 3did not loadAzara microphylla, photograph 4did not loadAzara microphylla, photograph 5did not loadAzara microphylla, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Christopher Hynes, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Cesar Ormazabal, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Nothofagus alpina Nothofagus alpina Rauli Photo: CC BY-SA, Grzegorz GrzejszczakCortaderia araucana Cortaderia araucana Poaceae Photo: CC BY, Cesar OrmazabalMyrceugenia ovata Myrceugenia ovata Myrtaceae Photo: CC BY, Cody Hinchliff Ribes integrifolium Grossulariaceae Lomatia hirsuta Lomatia hirsuta Proteaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Grzegorz GrzejszczakArchidasyphyllum diacanthoides Archidasyphyllum diacanthoides Asteraceae Photo: CC BY, Inao Vasquez

Other Azara 8 in the reference

Azara alpina Azara alpina Salicaceae Photo: CC BY, Nicolás LavanderoAzara celastrina Azara celastrina Salicaceae Photo: CC BY, Álvaro Ibaceta R.Azara dentata Azara dentata Salicaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedAzara integrifolia Azara integrifolia Goldspire Photo: CC BY, Bruno AvilezAzara lanceolata Azara lanceolata Salicaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Grzegorz GrzejszczakAzara petiolaris Azara petiolaris Salicaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Grzegorz GrzejszczakAzara serrata Azara serrata Saw-toothed azara Photo: CC BY, Bruno AvilezAzara uruguayensis Azara uruguayensis Salicaceae Photo: CC BY, Martin Coronel Varela

Names & registers

Also known as Azara borealis; Azara valdiviae; Myrtophyllum chilense. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Salicaceae
Described by
Hook.f.
Native to
Argentina South, Chile Central, Chile South
Wild records
210 in range · 52 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21GBIF's key 5604430 is Azara microphylla Hook.fil.; the page links Kew's Azara microphylla Hook.f., and the name is cited as Kew cites it
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 13 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (9 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 3 at a herbarium, 1 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -37.00_-71.875, lapse-corrected +299 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 27 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…