Jubaea chilensis once covered central valleys. Wine made from its sap drove it to near-extinction. A single individual can produce 400 liters of sap before dying.
scott.zona from Miami, Florida, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The liquid heart of a giant
The Chilean wine palm, Jubaea chilensis, is a large palm species. It is the world's most southerly palm, and one of the most massive. Its smooth, gray trunk can reach a diameter of up to 2 meters, the thickest of any palm species. These giants grow slowly, sometimes taking decades to form a noticeable trunk, and can live for several hundred years. Historically, they formed extensive forests throughout central Chile, from the Coquimbo Region south to Maule.
The palm declined because of its exceptionally sweet sap. For centuries, this liquid was harvested to produce "miel de palma" (palm honey) and fermented into palm wine. The process was lethally inefficient. To collect the sap, the entire tree had to be felled. Once on the ground, its crown was removed, and the liquid drained from the apical meristem—the plant's growing point. A single felled palm could yield around 400 liters of sap over a period of several months. This destructive practice, which continued for centuries, led to a large decline in the palm's population.
A declining population
In the mid-16th century, the population of Jubaea chilensis was estimated to be around 5 million trees. By the early 21st century, that number had plummeted by 98%, with fewer than 120,000 individuals remaining. The once-continuous palm forests are now reduced to small, fragmented populations, primarily in protected areas.
During his voyage on HMS Beagle in 1834, Charles Darwin observed the harvesting process firsthand. He noted the vast number of palms being cut down to produce treacle from their sap. This industrial-scale exploitation, combined with land clearing for agriculture and grazing, pushed the species towards extinction. Today, the Chilean wine palm is classified as Endangered by the IUCN.
Conservation efforts began in the latter half of the 20th century. La Campana National Park, established in 1967, protects the largest remaining population of about 60,000 palms in its Ocoa Valley sector. Another significant population exists on the privately owned Las Palmas de Cocalán estate. While the felling of wild palms is now legally restricted, the species still faces threats from wildfires, habitat loss, and predation of its seeds and seedlings by invasive species like rats and rabbits.
💡Fun Facts
The palm's fruit, called a coquito, is a miniature, edible coconut about 2.5 cm in diameter.
It is one of the most cold-hardy feather palms, able to tolerate temperatures down to -15°C (5°F).
Charles Darwin climbed Cerro La Campana in 1834 to view the palm groves and the surrounding landscape.
A specimen planted at Kew Gardens in London in 1843 grew to be the tallest indoor plant in the world before it was removed in 2013 after outgrowing the Temperate House.
