Species
+

Jubaea chilensis (Molina) Baill.

Chile Cocopalm, Chilean coco palm, Chilean wine palm, Kan-Kan

Climate known 75 photographs Tropical foliage plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Jubaea is a genus of palms with one species, Jubaea chilensis, commonly known in English as the Chilean wine palm or Chile cocopalm, and palma chilena in Spanish. It is native to southwestern South America and is endemic to a small area of central Chile between 32°S and 35°S in southern Coquimbo, Valparaíso, Santiago, O'Higgins, and northern Maule regions.

Text from Wikipedia, “Jubaea”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Jubaea

Jubaea is a genus of palms with one species, Jubaea chilensis, commonly known in English as the Chilean wine palm or Chile cocopalm, and palma chilena in Spanish. It is native to southwestern South America and is endemic to a small area of central Chile between 32°S and 35°S in southern Coquimbo, Valparaíso, Santiago, O'Higgins, and northern Maule regions.

Text from Wikipedia, “Jubaea”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Arecaceae
Described by
(Molina) Baill.
Native to
Chile Central
Wild records
914 in range· 105 open

At a glance

Warmest month
27°C
Jan, mean day; nights 14 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
682mm/yr
6 wet months · peak Jun 160 mm (CHELSA)
Light
16–57DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by Arecaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a winter growing season, November to February in the northern hemisphere (May to August at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 682 mm a year, wettest June at 160 mm, driest January at 2 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 57 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 2.0 °C habitat night).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Cocos chilensis (Molina) Kunth; Cocos chilensis (Molina) Molina; Jubaea spectabilis Kunth; Micrococos chilensis (Molina) Phil.; Molinaea micrococos Bertero and 1 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by Arecaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, November to February in the northern hemisphere (May to August at the habitat, southern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (562 mm of 682 mm) falls in May to August, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 10.0 °C against a yearly mean of 14.3 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: November to February.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 682 mm a year, wettest June at 160 mm, driest January at 2 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

682 mm a year at the habitat, 562 mm of it May to August. Wettest month June at 160 mm, driest January at 2 mm; 3 months under 5 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 405 mm to 984 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 57 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 57 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 13, the highest 90th-percentile month 58).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 2.0 °C habitat night).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 2.0 °C, the absolute minimum -2.4 °C, 18 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 4.5 °C in July (across the envelope cells 2.9 °C to 8.4 °C), warmest day 26.8 °C in January (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 12 °C. The habitat figure, the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER), is 2.0 °C; the archetype table's conventional minimum for a tropical foliage plant (grouped by Arecaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant) is 12 °C, which is higher, and the floor rule takes the higher.

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 54 to 62% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 14 °C in Jul to 27 °C in Jan; mean night from 5 °C in Jul to 14 °C in Jan. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 682 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 141 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -2.4 °C and the 99th-percentile day 38.7 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost38.7° 99th-percentile day (undated)-2.4° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 16–57RH 54–62 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 141 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 20–2927 / 20–2825 / 20–2621 / 18–2317 / 16–1915 / 14–1714 / 13–1615 / 14–1717 / 15–1920 / 17–2223 / 18–2525 / 19–27
Night °C14 / 13–1614 / 13–1613 / 12–1510 / 9–138 / 6–116 / 4–105 / 3–85 / 4–97 / 5–109 / 8–1111 / 10–1213 / 12–15
Rain mm2 / 1–32 / 1–59 / 6–1727 / 13–52142 / 78–190160 / 87–230155 / 102–196105 / 67–15448 / 25–7019 / 11–3311 / 6–172 / 1–6
DLI56 / 56–5750 / 49–5140 / 39–4229 / 27–3120 / 17–2216 / 13–1918 / 15–2123 / 20–2732 / 30–3443 / 41–4553 / 51–5457 / 56–58
RH %54 / 52–6255 / 53–6357 / 54–6360 / 54–6362 / 54–6662 / 53–6762 / 53–6662 / 56–6662 / 57–6559 / 56–6356 / 54–6254 / 52–62

Each figure is the median across the 141 grid cells holding the 901 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2499:2174 (-34.975, -71.275). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -2.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 2.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 141 distinct grid cells holding the 901 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2499:2174 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -35.00_-71.250, lapse-corrected -258 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 190 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeChile Central
Kew's description“tree” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-33.06, -71.523 · in the densest population, 867 records (95% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 914 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 105 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 43 km away. 22 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 13 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 914 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Jubaea chilensisJubaea chilensisJubaea chilensisJubaea chilensisJubaea chilensisJubaea chilensisJubaea chilensisJubaea chilensis

Photographs: (c) Cesar Ormazabal, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Víctor Sarabia Sánchez, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Jubaea chilensis, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Ecology and management of the Chilean palm (Jubaea chilensis): history, current situation and perspectives.
Luís González, Rafael M. Navarro C., Ramiro O. Bustamante, Miguel Angel Herrera M. (2009) · Universidad de Chile
The vanished palm trees of Easter Island : new radiocarbon and phytolith data
Claire Delhon, Cathérine Orliac (2007) · HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe)
Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Jubaea chilensis, an Endemic and Monotype Gender from Chile, Based on SNP Markers
Paola Jara‐Arancio, Carolina da Silva Carvalho, Martín R. Carmona-Ortiz, Ramiro O. Bustamante (2022) · Plants
Multiple Anthropogenic Pressures Lead to Seed Dispersal Collapse of the Southernmost Palm Jubaea chilensis
Sebastián Cordero, Francisca Gálvez, Francisco E. Fontúrbel (2021) · Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
Characterization of the seed oil from chilean palm (Jubaea chilensis)
Lilia Masson, Conrado Camilo, M.E. Torija (2008) · Grasas y Aceites
A review of the massive Chilean palm Jubaea chilensis
Eduardo Guzmán, José Antonio Alcalde, Samuel Contreras, M. Paulina Fernández (2017) · Caldasia
RIQUEZA FLORISTICA DEL SANTUARIO DE LA NATURALEZA PALMAR EL SALTO, VIÑA DEL MAR, REGION DE VALPARAISO, CHILE
Lorena Flores-Toro, Francisco Aguirre-Saavedra (2008) · Gayana. Botánica
Four New Palm Species Records for Rhynchophorus palmarum (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in California
Mark S. Hoddle, Gregory Johansen, Erich Kast, Ángel María Cartón López (2021) · Florida Entomologist
Identification of Nematicidal Fatty Acids and Triglycerides from Seeds of Jubaea chilensis by GC-EI-MS and Chemical Transformation Methods
Jian‐Qiao Gu, C. Mark Eppler, Gloria Montenegro, Scott D. Timmins (2005) · Zeitschrift für Naturforschung C

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 21 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.