THE NEW ZEALAND NIKAU

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 236, 18 September 1936, Page 13

THE NEW ZEALAND NIKAU

This elegant and graceful palm can be grown successfully in our Auckland climate. Bhopalostylis sapida or nikau palm is a form of Kentia palm, with more slender leaves and smaller fruits than its well-known brothers. It can be planted in among other trees for protection and thrives well in any warm situation, provided it gets enough moisture.

Bieh leaf-mould and loam is the natural soil for this plant. The Maoris use the nikau leaves in the construction of their wliares or native huts. These leaves resist the wet in a marvellous way, each leaf forming a distinct channel for the water to run freely away. The top of the stem is sometimes eaten, being juicy and sweet to the taste.

This palm will stand fire almost as well as the widely known cabbage-tree. When ripe the fruit is a vivid red colour, hanging in large bunches similar to coral. Each individual berry is about the size of a pea and extremely hard. In olden times the early settlers used them as shot when ammunition was scarce. Baskets are sometimes made by the natives from the leaf strips. A tree will attain a height of 30 feet on a straight column stem, the bark of

which is ringed and marked where the old leaves have fallen off. The leaves are about 14 feet in length and as the tree gets older, form a graceful crown of leaves.