The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Rhopalostylis baueri
Also called Norfolk Island Palm, Kermadec Island Nikau
Kermadec Five Finger is a feather-leaved palm from Norfolk Island and the Kermadec Islands that can reach 10 m or more. It needs a mild, humid, frost-free climate and is mainly grown outdoors in warm coastal areas.
Rhopalostylis baueri is a species of palm native to Norfolk Island (Australia) and to the Kermadec Islands (New Zealand). Norfolk Island is the type locality. The common names on Norfolk Island are 'Norfolk Island palm' or 'niau'. In New Zealand the name 'Kermadec nikau' is used to refer to the Kermadec Islands population.
In the Southern Hemisphere outside its habitats, R. baueri is cultivated in mainland New Zealand as a faster-growing alternative to the otherwise similar R. sapida, the nīkau palm, the only other species in the genus Rhopalostylis. It is also grown in the Australian states of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and Western Australia. In the Northern Hemisphere excellent cultivated specimens are found on the coasts of the southeastern Azores and Madeira, which offer similar climates to those of the species' origin. The species is also grown outdoors in coastal California, Hawai'i, continental Portugal and Spain, the Canary Islands, and in parts of the Mediterranean basin (e.g., Palermo, Italy).
On Norfolk Island it now occupies a small range in the centre of the island near the national park, where the species is somewhat threatened by rats that eat the fruit and young seedlings. It is rare elsewhere on the island. In the Kermadec Islands part of its range it is not threatened, but it only occurs on Raoul Island. Following the successful eradication of rats on Raoul Island, the palm has greatly extended its range. On Norfolk Island, which is still infested with rodents, R. baueri is regenerating and is abundant in some localities. If rodents were eliminated from Norfolk, the palm would benefit greatly.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Rhopalostylis baueri by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
