Whence
Kentia palm
Plant

Where does Kentia palm come from?

The kentia palm comes from Lord Howe Island, a small Australian island in the Tasman Sea, and grows wild nowhere else. Islanders have gathered its seeds for the world's nurseries since the 1870s, and it became the classic palm of parlours and hotel lobbies.

A palm of one island

Lord Howe Island lies about 350 miles east of mainland Australia. There the kentia palm, Howea forsteriana, grows from sea level to about 300 metres on coralline and basaltic soils, often in pure stands. A close relative, the Belmore sentry palm, lives on the same island. DNA suggests the two split from a common ancestor about two million years ago, and the kentia flowers some seven weeks earlier than its cousin, so the two almost never interbreed.

Seeds for Victorian parlours

By the 1870s whaling was waning, and the islanders turned to collecting kentia seeds for the European houseplant market. The palm became the classic Victorian parlour palm because it thrived indoors, in low light, dry air and cool rooms where other palms failed. By 1885 a British gardening journal said kentias were in greater demand than almost any other palm, and Queen Victoria grew them in all her homes. In the Edwardian era around 4 million seeds a year were harvested on the island.

Why people think of Southeast Asia

Palms make many people think of steamy tropical forests such as those of Southeast Asia. But the kentia comes from an island in the Tasman Sea, and its tolerance of cool, dim rooms is part of what made it a houseplant. Even its scientific name points to its home: the genus Howea is named after Lord Howe Island. The species is listed as vulnerable, and the trade in its seeds and seedlings is still tightly regulated.

Sources: plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au ↗ · en.wikipedia.org ↗ · carlzimmer.com ↗ · lordhoweisland.info ↗

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