Native Name:—NIKAU.
Nikau Palm.
This is a very beautiful Palm, growing sometimes to a great height. The lovely lilac flower in its different stages from when it is packed into its sheath until the stage in which it is represented in plate 8, when it is commonly called a "hand," and afterwards when the same "hand" is covered with bright scarlet berries makes it a very beautiful object in the forest. The young infloresence is eaten and has an agreeable nut like flavour. It has simple ringed trunks, flowers very numerous and crowded, males and females mixed. It grows abundantly in the North Island and part of the Middle Island. It flowers in March.
| Areca sapida | Leighton Brothers Lith |
| PLATE 8 | |