The nikau palm tree, New Zealand’s only native palm tree, is also the southernmost palm tree in the world! Learn about this native tree here.
Most of the time I associate palm trees with tropical islands and sipping cocktails on the beach. Well, New Zealand may have big mountains, glaciers, and volcanoes, but it also has palm trees. I always feel like I’m exploring a tropical forest when I come across some of these palm trees while hiking. These palm trees reveal another side to the natural world of the native broadleaf/podocarp forest of New Zealand.
7 Nikau Palm Tree Facts
First, I’ll just reiterate the fact that I’ve already shared with you above – these are the southernmost palm trees in the world!
Nikau palm trees can be found throughout coastal, lowland and hilly forests of the North Island and the top of the South Island. They can be found on the South Island as far south as Banks Peninsula on the east coast and Whanganuii bluffs on the west coast. One of my favourite day walks on the west coast of the South Island, the Pororari River track in Paparoa National Park, is full of these palm trees.
These grow straight up and down with the fronds coming out of the top of the tree. The fronds all point up from a point at the top of the trunk that looks like a bulb. The way the fronds stick up make the tree resemble a giant arrow with the point stuck in the ground and the end with the feathers sticking up towards the sky. The fronds seem to defy gravity sticking up the way they do.
The trunk of the tree is also very recognizable since it’s ringed with the scars of the old fronds.
Nikau palm starts life as a seedling that gradually grows taller and taller, developing the distinctive ringed trunk. These trees can grow up to 10 metres tall.
The flowers on this native tree stand out. Interestingly, the flowers appear as a tightly packed cluster (called an inflorescence) that grows out of the base of the bulb where the fronds attach to the trunk of the tree. The flowers are a pale lilac to purplish colour. Later the small, bright red fruits will emerge from the same spot on the tree. The fruit take almost a year to ripen!
Maori used the fronds of these nikau palm trees to make roofs of their houses or for weaving into baskets. The centre of the tree was also sometimes eaten.