Trachycarpus, is a genus of ten species of palms native to Asia, from the Himalaya east to eastern China. They are fan palms (subfamily Coryphoideae), with the leaves with a bare petiole terminating in a rounded fan of numerous leaflets. The leaf bases produce persistent fibres that often give the trunk a characteristic hairy appearance. All species are dioecious, with male and female flowers produced on separate plants although female plants will sometimes produce male flowers, allowing occasional self-pollination.

Cultivation and uses

thumb|Stem of [[Trachycarpus fortunei showing leaf base fibres]]

thumb|Mature Trachycarpus fortunei in [[Solomons, Maryland]]

The most common species in cultivation is Trachycarpus fortunei (Chusan palm or windmill palm), which is the northernmost naturally-growing palm species in the world. Cities as far north as London, Dublin, Paris, Seattle and Vancouver have long term cultivated palms in several areas. The dwarf form, known as T. wagnerianus, is unknown in the wild, and is now considered synonymous with T. fortunei or treated as a cultivar of that species. It resembles T. fortunei closely, differing only in its smaller and stiffer leaves. Hybrids between the two are intermediate in size and fully fertile.

Trachycarpus takil (the Kumaon palm) is similar to T. fortunei and probably even hardier. Other species less common in cultivation are T. geminisectus, T. princeps, T. latisectus, T. martianus, T. nanus and T. oreophilus. Trachycarpus martianus and T. latisectus do not tolerate cold as well as T. fortunei or T. takil. Trachycarpus geminisectus, T. princeps and T. oreophilus are still too rare and small in cultivation to assess their full potential. Two additional species have been described recently: Trachycarpus ukhrulensis from Manipur and T. ravenii from Laos; the former is known from cultivation as Trachycarpus sp. "Manipur" or Trachycarpus sp. "Naga Hills".

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Image !! Scientific name !! Height !! Distribution

|-

|120px || Trachycarpus fortunei || || China, Japan, Myanmar and India.

|-

| || Trachycarpus geminisectus |||| Northern Vietnam (and potentially border regions of Guangxi, China)

|-

| || Trachycarpus latisectus || || Sikkim

|-

|120px || Trachycarpus martianus|| || Assam, China South-Central, East Himalaya, Myanmar, Nepal.

|-

|120px || Trachycarpus nanus|| || China.

|-

|120px || Trachycarpus oreophilus|| || Northwest Thailand, the other in Manipur in northeastern India

|-

|120px || Trachycarpus princeps|| || Yunnan in southern central China

|-

| || Trachycarpus ravenii|| || Laos

|-

|120px || Trachycarpus takil|| || Northwestern India, and into adjacent western Nepal

|-

| || Trachycarpus ukhrulensis|| || Manipur region in Assam, India.

|}

References

Bibliography

  • Beccari, O. (1931). Asiatic Palms - Corypheae (ed. U. Martelli). Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. (Calcutta) 13: 1-356.
  • Kimnach, M. (1977). The Species of Trachycarpus. Principes 21: 155-160.
  • Meerow, A. W. (2005). Betrock's Cold Hardy Palms. Betrock Information Systems, Inc., Hollywood, Florida.
  • WCSP, World checklist of Palms: Trachycarpus
  • Flora of China: Trachycarpus species list
  • Flora of Nepal: Trachycarpus species list
  • PACSOA: Trachycarpus
  • The Genus Trachycarpus from Palm & Cycad Societies of Florida
  • Scanpalm - Trachycarpus cultivation in Scandinavia