The Chinese fan palm or Chusan palm was one of the first exotic palms to be planted in New Zealand as a result of a worldwide ‘palm craze’ that began from about the 1850s. It was heavily planted in parks and private gardens partly due to its cold-hardiness, and specimens can be found in South Island homesteads quite far south. This group of 29 palms was used in a very formal manner in Auckland’s Albert Park, surrounding the Queen Victoria statue and as double rows in the radiating walkways (see photos). They were donated, along with over 200 other plants, by Sir George Grey in 1882, just after Albert Park was established [1]. Consequently, they are older – 142 years - than the other palms that are now such well-known features of Albert Park (eg. the Phoenix and Washingtonia palms). The majority of the palms are in very good health, although as a photo shows one specimen has recently died (Lloyd, M., 2024).

References
1] ‘Auckland Sharemarket’, Auckland Star, 21 September 1882, p. 3