Gunnera chilensis.

Botanical name: 
Gunnera tinctoria

Gunnera chilensis Lam. Halorageae.

Chile. The acidulous leaf-stalks serve as a vegetable. The plant somewhat resembles rhubarb on a gigantic scale. The inhabitants, says Darwin, eat the stalks, which are subacid. The leaves are sometimes nearly eight feet in diameter, and the stalk is rather more than a yard high. It is called panke. In France, it is grown as an ornament.

Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World, 1919, was edited by U. P. Hedrick.

Comments

Submitted by Henriette on 2 May, 2011 - 21:06.

"You made a typo. This plant is called in the South of Chile 'Nalca'. Not what you wrote ('Panke').
In spring and early summer you see a lot of people selling the stalks. It makes a very refreshing drink. It taste somewhat like Rhubarber.

Greetings from the South of Chile,
Paul van Oss, Los Lagos."

Submitted by Henriette on 2 May, 2011 - 21:18.

I think that "panke" refers to the old latin name (Panke tinctoria Molina), not any possible common names. But thank you for that local name!