Among the common coastal plants in Hengchun Peninsula, there is a plant that makes people feel familiar and raises a question about the person who planted it on edge of the cliff. It is the Taiwan date palm, which together with Taiwan Cow-tail fir, Taiwan catkin yew, and Taitung cycad, are known as “Taiwan’s Four Strange Trees”.
Taiwan date palm is mainly distributed in the southern region of Taiwan, the Hengchun Peninsula, the eastern coast, and the coastal hills, cliffs as well as sunny slopes of outlying islands. It is an ice age relict plant. Surviving through thousands of years of natural selection, the native plant with strong vitality can survive in the harshest environment, therefore it could be seen on the cliff.
As for the sense of familiarity, because it has been used as a broom since ancient times, people in the southern part called it as “maple broom”. Due to its special tree shape, Taiwan date palm has become street trees in many places.
Boy, this is that place on the coastal highway nr.1, which greets you when you are driving from Nanwan area more down to the Kenting street, and soon you see Chateau Beach Resort After that.
How can you forget this view below?!
If you see this, you are in Kenting. Officially. And you can check out anytime you want, but never leave.
Taiwanese call it the maple. In the southwest part, there are many settlements that are named accordingly. Those settlements are called as big maple, small maple, two maple, three maples, etc.
The Paiwan people of the Hengchun Peninsula will take the black purplish fruits of ripe Taiwan date palms as snacks. It tastes like dried dates, and some people pickle them before eating – hundreds of years old Kenting Local Food.
Sprouts are also wild vegetables of natives, of which they can be eaten raw after washing. They can also be fried or cooked. The flavor is especially charming when cooking them together with pork ribs.
Taiwan date palm, which belongs to the palm family, is an evergreen medium-sized woody plant. It possesses a height of up to five to eight meters. The length of its stem could be up to thirty centimeters. The biggest feature is the left-after traces of warty leaf on the stems covered with deciduous leaves. It contains even number of pinnate compound leaves.
The leaf line is arranged in four columns. It contains a gradual-pointed leaf tip, The leaf surface is leathery and smooth. From March to June of every year, it will bloom with yellow flowers, and then enter the fruiting period. The fruit is oval-shaped, and initially it is orange yellowish in color. When the color turns to black purplish, it is ready to be eaten.
Kenting weather with high temperature, high humidity, and ample sunshine is in favor of Taiwan date palm. Due to its origination in the harsh environment, it has long developed the characteristics of salt, drought, and wind resistances.
It often stands as the first-row warrior on the coast.
At the side of headland of Chufengbi which faces to the northeast, even if it is completely cut into dead leaves by the wind, it is still indomitable.
At the city, the beautiful tree shapes contribute to the formation of landscape trees of many courtyards or bonsai, and its different or unique posture could be the best portrayal of perseverance life!
