Palm - Jubea spectabilis

Native to Chile, it’s a palm with erect and robust dark-grey trunk, whose upper part is covered by the remains of the leaf bases; it can grow up to 24 m in height. The leaves are set in an apical shaped crown, reaching up to 4 m in length, with several linear-lanceolate pointed segments and a short petiole provided with long thin filaments at the margin, wrapped at the base by brown fibres. Its flowers are unisexual in monoecious plants (i.e. carrying male and female reproductive organs on the same plant but in separate flowers), and are purple-red in colour. The fruits are pale yellow drupes (fleshy fruits with a woody interior) with globular-ovoid shapes, 4-5 cm long, with edible endosperm and a coconut-like taste. Being a slow-growing hardy plant, it can easily tolerate drought and temperatures down to 0 °C and thrives in temperate and humid climate zones. It prefers a sunny exposure.