''Jubaea'' is a genus of palms with one species, ''Jubaea chilensis'' or ''Jubaea spectabilis'', commonly known in English as the Chilean wine palm or Chile cocopalm, and palma chilena in Spanish. It is native to southwestern South America and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to a small area of central Chile between 32°S and 35°S in southern

Coquimbo Coquimbo is a port city, commune and capital of the Elqui Province, located on the Pan-American Highway, in the Coquimbo Region of Chile. Coquimbo is situated in a valley south of La Serena, with which it forms Greater La Serena with more than ...

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

, O'Higgins, and northern Maule regions. It has long been assumed that the extinct palm tree of

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearl ...

belonged to this genus as well; however, in 2008,

John Dransfield John Dransfield (born 1945) is an honorary research fellow and former head of palm research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom, as well as being an authority on the phylogenetic classification of palms. Dransfield has written o ...

controversially placed it in its own genus, '' Paschalococos''.

Growth

The thickest well-documented ''Jubaea'' was on the estate of J. Harrison Wright in

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...

. Its diameter "at shoulder height" was . The largest of several specimens at the Adelaide (South Australia) Botanic Garden in 1889 was stated to be thick at the base. A hollow (but living) ''Jubaea'' in the

Ocoa Valley The Ocoa Valley is a landform in central Chile located by the La Campana National Park. This valley is a locus where considerable archaeological recovery has taken place, yielding considerable finds of pre-European contact period. According to Dallm ...

near

La Campana National Park La Campana National Park is located in the Cordillera de la Costa, Quillota Province, in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. La Campana National Park and the Vizcachas Mountains lie northwest of Santiago. This national park covers approximately a ...

, Chile is thick at its base, with no apparent taper in the lower trunk. The largest individual specimen of indoor plant in the world was the ''Jubaea chilensis'' at Kew Gardens, which was cut off by staff in 2014 because it grew to the top of its greenhouse. Of the more than 2,600 known species of palms, ''Jubaea chilensis'' is the second most massive, exceeded only by the floodplain or river bottom variety of ''

Borassus aethiopum ''Borassus aethiopum'' is a species of ''Borassus'' palm from Africa. In English it is variously referred to as African fan palm, African palmyra palm, deleb palm, ron palm, toddy palm, black rhun palm, rônier palm (from the French). It is wides ...

''.

Uses

The leaves can be used to weave baskets, and it has edible seeds. The sap can be used to make

palm wine Palm wine, known by several local names, is an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm tree such as the palmyra, date palms, and coconut palms. It is known by various names in different regions and is common in va ...

and palm syrup, although unlike other palms which can be tapped, the whole tree has to be felled; this is now restricted by legal protection.

Conservation

The species is partially protected within Chile, although pressures of

human population growth Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...

and expansion of grazing areas have reduced the population of the Chilean wine palm in recent centuries. The

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biolo ...

considers the palm

Endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...

. File:Jubaea chilensis - quebrada 7 hermanas - Incendio Palmar El Salto, Viña del Mar, febrero 2012 por Pato Novoa 001.jpg, ''J. chilensis'' growing in habitat in Palmar El Salto, Viña del Mar File:Jubaea chilensis - Palmar El Salto 136 (14476062262).jpg, ''J. chilensis'' growing in habitat in Palmar El Salto, Viña del Mar File:Quebrada Rodelillo (4984832159).jpg, ''J. chilensis'' growing in habitat in Quebrada Rodelillo

History

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

examined these trees on visiting Chile in 1832 on the second voyage of HMS ''Beagle'' and noted: In 1843, a specimen was grown from seed at Kew Gardens in London, and was moved into the

Temperate House The Temperate House, opened in May 1863, is a Grade I-listed showhouse for the largest plants in Kew Royal Botanic Gardens. Rectangular, with pitched roofs, its pillars support wrought-iron ribs. Decimus Burton and Irish engineer, Richard Tur ...

in 1863, eventually growing to . It was believed to be the world's tallest indoor plant, until it had to be felled in 2013 because it had outgrown the space available and could not be moved. It has been replaced by seedlings from the original tree.

Gallery

File:Jubaea chilensis (Fruit and nut) nuytsia pix.jpg, Fruits and nuts File:Kew.gardens.chilean.wine.palm.london.arp.jpg, World-record ''Jubaea'' at Kew Gardens File:Jubaea chilensis - Leverkusen, Germany.jpg, ''Jubaea chilensis'' in

Leverkusen Leverkusen () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne, and to the north the state capital, Düsseldorf. With about 161,000 inhabitants, Leverkusen is o ...

, Germany File:Jubaea Chilensis in California by Dan Lindsay.jpg, ''Jubaea chilensis'' growing in

Goleta, California Goleta (; ; Spanish for "Schooner") is a city in southern Santa Barbara County, California, United States. It was incorporated as a city in 2002, after a long period as the largest unincorporated populated area in the county. As of the 2000 c ...

File:Onofrejarpa.jpg, Painting of a ''Jubaea'' by Chilean artist Onofre Jarpa

References

External links

* ttps://floridata.com/plant/187 ''Floridata'': Jubaea chilensis; description and places in Europe where it has been introduced*Philip W. Rundel (2002
The Chilean Wine PalmPalm & Cycad Society of Australia: ''Jubaea chilensis''
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q13065504, from2=Q38483239, from3=Q290967 Cocoseae Monotypic Arecaceae genera Flora of central Chile Trees of Chile Chilean Matorral Trees of Mediterranean climate Vulnerable flora of South America Garden plants of South America Ornamental trees Drought-tolerant trees Taxa named by Henri Ernest Baillon Taxa named by Juan Ignacio Molina