Chilean Wine Palm impressive at Pākaitore, Whanganui

The Chilean Wine Palm at Pakaitore, Whanganui.

Towering above young Nikau Palms in Pākaitore, Whanganui is a magnificent Chilean Wine Palm, regarded by many as one of the world’s most impressive palms.

It’s a slow-growing evergreen palm with a massive grey trunk, supporting a dense crown of 40 - 50 gracefully arching, feather-like leaves.

The thick, columnar trunk, up to 90cm across, is the largest of any palm. It is often swollen above its base. It is a monoecious species - meaning one tree has both male and female flowers.

Sprays of small, bowl-shaped, purple and yellow flowers are produced in summer on mature trees (50 years old).

The flowers give way to large clusters of rounded, edible, yellow fruits 2.5cm across with soft pulp that tastes like coconut.

Chilean Wine Palm (Jubaea chilensis) is also the most cold-hardy feather palm, and can withstand temperatures as low as -14C. It is tolerant to cold, moist winters, frost and drought.

It has been the winner of the prestigious Award of Garden Merit of the Royal Horticultural Society.

The Waitangi Tribunal names Pākaitore as the site where Whanganui chiefs signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi on May 23, 1840.

Pākaitore was a critical trading site and temporary fishing village.

Whanganui hapū and iwi had tūpuna fishing rights that they exercised over the Pākaitore site. The

Pākaitore site encompassed the entire bank of the river in what is today Whanganui.