Chilean Coconut, Jabaea spectabilis, is one of the great specimens of nut trees when full grown. It grows slowly and reaches a height up to 15m and a girth of 1.5m but only after 100 years. Its common name ‘Wine Palm’ is derived from the fact that the trunk is full of sweet honey like syrup that can be fermented into wine. A single trunk may bleed to produce up to 400 liters of wine. However, you will have to kill the tree to do so.

The Chilean Coconut is an evergreen, frost tender and in leaf all year round. It produces flowers that they are either female or male with both sexes found on the same tree. The flower spadix may bled daily for up to one month and around 300 liters of sap can be collected from a 20 year old tree. It can then be boiled down to produce palm sugar or fermented into wine.

Chilean Coconut Fruit and Nutys

The tree will produce several bunches, each containing several hundred yellow, peach like fruit each with a miniature coconut inside, 2.5-5cm in diameter. The seed is eaten row or cooked and it has a pleasant coconut flavor. Nuts should be kept cool and damp. They should not allow drying or they will loose much of their flavor freshness and sweetness. The nuts fall in autumn.

Chilean Coconut Propagation Methods

The tree is propagated from seeds. They should be sown immediately after fallen to the ground. Each nut has three eyes and the one furthest apart from the other two should be facing downwards. It takes approximately 6 months for the nut to germinate. It will take the tree usually 15 years to commence bearing.

Chilean coconut, Jabaea spectabilis

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