iNikau
Nikau Palm (Rhopalostylis sapida)
Conservation status
Conservation dependent (LR/cd)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Liliopsida Order: Arecales Family: Arecaceae Genus: Rhopalostylis Species: R. sapida
Binomial name
Rhopalostylis sapida H.Wendl. & Drude

Nikau (Rhopalostylis sapida) is a palm tree endemic to New Zealand. The Nikau, New Zealand's only native palm, grows in temperate, lowland areas of New Zealand. It grows naturally as far south as the Chatham Islands, the Banks Peninsula, and Hokitika on the West Coast, making it the world's southernmost palm at 44°S latitude. The name 'Nikau' in Maori means 'Many leaves on the same stalk'. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (477x1024, 119 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Nikau Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create... The conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive. ... Image File history File links Status_iucn2. ... Conservation Dependent (LR/cd) was an IUCN category assigned to species or lower taxa which were dependent on conservation efforts to prevent the taxon becoming threatened with extinction. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Divisions Green algae Chlorophyta Charophyta Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Marchantiophyta - liverworts Anthocerotophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) †Rhyniophyta - rhyniophytes †Zosterophyllophyta - zosterophylls Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses †Trimerophytophyta - trimerophytes Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta... Classes Magnoliopsida - Dicots Liliopsida - Monocots The flowering plants (also called angiosperms) are the dominant and most familiar group of land plants. ... Liliopsida is the botanical name for a class. ... Family Arecaceae Arecales is the botanical order which includes only the palm family, Arecaceae. ... Genera Many; see list of Arecaceae genera Arecaceae (sometimes known by the names Palmae or Palmaceae, although the latter name is taxonomically invalid. ... Species R. sapida Rhopalostylis is a genus of palms native to the South Pacific. ... In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal method of naming species. ... Hermann Wendland (1825 in Herrenhausen - 1903) was a German botanist and gardener. ... This is a list of botanists by their author abbreviation, designed for citation in the botanical names they have published. ... Genera Many; see list of Arecaceae genera Arecaceae (sometimes known by the names Palmae or Palmaceae, although the latter name is taxonomically invalid. ... In biology and ecology endemic means exclusively native to a place or biota, in contrast to cosmopolitan or introduced. ... In geography, temperate latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. ... The Chatham Islands from space. ... Banks Peninsula has a roughly circular shape, with many bays and two deep harbours. ... Town centre of Hokitika, South Island, New Zealand Hokitika is a township on the West Coast of New Zealands South Island, 40 kilometres (25 Miles) south of Greymouth, and close to the mouth of the Hokitika River. ... The West Coast is one of the administrative regions of New Zealand, located on the west coast of the South Island. ...

Nikau palms are a New Zealand icon and easily recognised by many New Zealanders, though are uncommon in planted gardens due to their slow growth rate and difficulty in transplanting.

The nikau grows to about 10 metres tall, with leaves up to 2.5 metres in length. During the summer light pink flowers grow in bunches below the leaf base, where lots of small orange berries take their place, but they take almost a year to fully ripen. These serve as food for the Kereru bird (also known as native wood pigeon).

References and external links

• Dowl (1998). Rhopalostylis sapida. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006.
• New Zealand native plant website: Rhopalostylis sapida