I was reading an article the Gardening Australia website this morning about unusual edibles (it looks as thought the author is in Queensland), and one caught my eye – Jubaea chilensis, the Chilean Wine Palm.
Photo credit: nuytsia_pix, via Flickr.
A native of Chile, this palm is apparently hardy enough to stand a good chance of surviving the winter in the UK (at least in the south). According to PFAF the palm sap is harvested to make drinks (hence the name), a process which sounds as though it might kill the tree – which would explain why it is an endangered plant and protected in its native habitat. It also bears edible fruit.
Kew have some seeds stored in the Millennium seed bank, although their website currently says that they haven’t had a successful germination test.
This palm may be quite slow growing – even juvenile trees are expensive to buy, but you could try and raise your own from seed (Jungle Seeds is one possible UK supplier). It sounds as though they grow quite happily in containers for quite some time (which would make them easier to protect from very bad weather); grown in the ground they would eventually become a very large tree.
Have you got one of these in your garden? Have you tasted the sap, or the fruit?