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Palms at Kew

Chilean wine palm

 

Palms in the wild and in cultivation


Palm in the Palms House at Kew

Palms in the Palm House at Kew

 

 

Palms

Where to find palms at Kew

The Palm House at Kew Gardens is home to possibly the most diverse collection of palms to be found in a glasshouse anywhere in the world. Visitors can walk amongst specimens that rise up into the high roof-space, and a special treat is to take the spiral staircase up to the gallery and look out across the canopy.

You will find the well-known coconut, as well as other economically important palms such as the peach palm and a number of rattans. Of course palms are also wonderfully attractive plants, and ones to look out for are the coco-de-mer, with its record-breaking seed, and the vivid red stems of the sealing wax palm.

In the Temperate House you will find possibly the word's tallest glasshouse plant, a Chilean wine palm raised from seed in 1846. Other notable palms include specimens of Livistona chinensis and Chamaerops humilis, both planted by George V in 1926.

About palms at Kew

Chilean wine palm - a record breaker in the Temperate House

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