132. New Beginning Palm

A surprising palm tree in north London is a refugee from distant lands.

Jan 01, 2025

Happy New Year! After a Christmas break from Substack – you may have noticed I haven’t posted any trees for a couple of weeks – here’s one to gladden your heart and to start 2025 off with a positive vibe.

The New Beginning Palm grows next to a children’s playground in Islington. It was planted in 1906, but not in London N1. It only arrived here in the twenty-first century, having been shipped from its native Valparaiso in Chile where it was under threat from developers. It is ironic that it undertook such a perilous journey to find a home in a new housing development in North London.

Species details

Chilean wine palm
Jubaea chilensis

Where to find it

Packington Square, London N1 7FX
///public.diary.haven | 51.535535, -0.095842

Chilean wine palm notes

This is a very rare species in the UK, a few examples grow in mild areas where winter frosts are rare. Inner London is ideal, as the urban heat island means temperatures are often much warmer than in the surrounding countryside, especially at night. Still, I only know of one or two trees in London, and if you do see a strident palm growing in the city, it is far more likely to be a Canary Island date palm. As well as being rare here, they are also rare in the native Chile where they originate from a small area in the centre of the country. Until the nineteenth century they were abundant in this area, but humans soon changed that, and that common name ‘wine palm’ gives us a clue as to why. Their sugary sap, of which a large tree can produce about 400 litres, was in demand for producing an alcoholic ‘wine’ and, when boiled, a thick, molasses-like syrup. In order to harvest this valuable sap, the whole tree had to be felled. As a result they are now endangered but some efforts are being made to protect them, and they are now widely grown as decorative trees in Mediterranean lands.