''Trachycarpus fortunei'', also known as the Chusan palm,Bean, W. J. (1980). ''Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles'', 8th ed., vol. 4. John Murray. . Chinese windmill palm, or simply the Windmill palm, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

hardy Hardy may refer to: People * Hardy (surname) * Hardy (given name) * Hardy (singer), American singer-songwriter Places Antarctica * Mount Hardy, Enderby Land * Hardy Cove, Greenwich Island * Hardy Rocks, Biscoe Islands Australia * Hardy, ...

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

palm tree in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Arecaceae The Arecaceae () is a family (biology), family of perennial plant, perennial, flowering plants in the Monocotyledon, monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbing palm, climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly k ...

native Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...

to parts of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

, and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Description

Growing to tall, ''Trachycarpus fortunei'' is a single-stemmed

fan palm Fan palm as a descriptive term can refer to any of several different kinds of Arecaceae, palms (Arecaceae) in various Genus, genera with leaves that are palmately lobed (rather than pinnately compound). Most are members of the subfamily Coryphoide ...

. The diameter of the trunk is up to . Its texture is very rough, with the persistent leaf bases clasping the stem as layers of coarse dark grey-brown fibrous material. The

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

have long

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

s which are bare except for two rows of small spines, terminating in a rounded fan of numerous leaflets. Each leaf is long, with the petiole long, and the leaflets up to long. It is a somewhat variable plant, especially as regards its general appearance; and some specimens are to be seen with leaf segments having straight and others having drooping tips. 3: 443–448, 4: 491. Fleurs Trachycarpus fortunei

The flowers are yellow (male) and greenish (female), about across, borne in large branched panicles up to long in spring; it is

dioecious Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

, with male and female flowers produced on separate trees. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

is a yellow to blue-black, reniform (kidney-shaped)

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed ...

long, ripening in mid-autumn.

Distribution and habitat

This plant has been cultivated in China and Japan for thousands of years. This makes tracking its natural range difficult. It is believed to originate in central China (

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

southwards), southern Japan (

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's Japanese archipelago, four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa Island, Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Ryukyu Islands, Islands ...

), south to northern

and

northern India North India is a geographical region, loosely defined as a cultural region comprising the northern part of India (or historically, the Indian subcontinent) wherein Indo-Aryans (speaking Indo-Aryan languages) form the prominent majority populati ...

, growing at altitudes of .WCSP, World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
''Trachycarpus fortunei''
/ref> ''Trachycarpus fortunei'' is one of the hardiest palms. It tolerates cool, moist summers as well as cold winters, as it grows at much higher altitudes than other species, up to in the mountains of southern China. However, it is not the northernmost naturally occurring palm in the world, as European fan palm (''

Chamaerops humilis ''Chamaerops'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Arecaceae. It contains only one species, ''Chamaerops humilis'', variously called European fan palm or the Mediterranean dwarf palm. It is one of the most cold-hardy palms and is use ...

'') grows farther north in the Mediterranean.

Uses

''Trachycarpus fortunei'' has been cultivated in China and Japan for thousands of years, for its coarse but very strong leaf sheath fibre, used for making rope, sacks, and other coarse cloth where great strength is important. The extent of this cultivation means that the exact natural range of the species is uncertain.

Cultivation

''Trachycarpus fortunei'' is cultivated as a trunking palm in gardens and parks throughout the world in warm temperate and subtropical climates. Its tolerance of cool summers and cold winters makes it valued by palm enthusiasts, landscape designers and gardeners. It is grown successfully in cool climates such as the UK, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, coastal Poland as well as southern and western Germany. In the UK it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

. Due to its widespread use as an ornamental plant, the palm has become

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

in southern regions of Switzerland, and has become an invasive species of concern. In North America, mature specimens can be found growing in the coastal areas of the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

, the

Upper South The Upland South and Upper South are two overlapping cultural and geographic subregions in the inland part of the Southern United States. They differ from the Deep South and Atlantic coastal plain by terrain, history, economics, demographics, ...

, and

Mid-Atlantic states The Mid-Atlantic is a region of the United States located in the overlap between the nation's Northeastern and Southeastern states. Traditional definitions include seven U.S. states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virg ...

. They can found growing along the West Coast from

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

north to coastal southwestern

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, and along the East Coast from

northern Florida North Florida is a region of the U.S. state of Florida comprising the northernmost part of the state. Along with South Florida and Central Florida, it is one of Florida's three most common "directional" regions. It includes Jacksonville and near ...

to coastal

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. Lower tolerance limits of are commonly cited for mature plants. Young plants are less hardy, and can be damaged by only . Lowest cold tolerance of well documented specimans include in

Plovdiv, Bulgaria Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

, which has survived a low temperature of -27.5 °C. The cultivar group ''Trachycarpus fortunei'' 'Wagnerianus' is a small-leafed semi-dwarf variant of the species selected in cultivation in China and Japan. It differs in rarely growing to more than tall, with leaflets less than long; the short stature and small leaves give it greater tolerance of wind exposure. It has often been treated as a separate species ''T. wagnerianus'' in popular works, but is now included within ''T. fortunei''.

Cuisine

The young flower buds are cooked and eaten in a variety of ways.

Nomenclature

The species was brought from Japan (specifically the trading post of

Dejima or Deshima, in the 17th century also called , was an artificial island off Nagasaki, Japan, that served as a trading post for the Portuguese (1570–1639) and subsequently the Dutch (1641–1858). For 220 years, it was the central con ...

) to Europe by the German physician

Philipp Franz von Siebold Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (17 February 1796 – 18 October 1866) was a German physician, botanist and traveller. He achieved prominence by his studies of Japanese flora (plants), flora and fauna (animals), fauna and the introduction of ...

in 1830. The common name refers to Chusan Island (now

Zhoushan Island Zhoushan Island is the principal and namesake island in the Zhoushan Islands, formerly romanized as the ChusanIslands, an archipelago administered by Zhoushan Prefecture in Zhejiang Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the provinc ...

), where

Robert Fortune Robert Fortune (16 September 1812 – 13 April 1880) was a Scottish botanist, plant hunter and traveller, best known for introducing around 250 new ornamental plants, mainly from China, but also Japan, into the gardens of Britain, Australia, an ...

first saw cultivated specimens. In 1849, Fortune smuggled plants from China to the Kew Horticultural Gardens and the Royal garden of

Prince Albert Prince Albert most commonly refers to: *Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria *Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco Prince Albert may also refer to: Royalty * Alb ...

of the United Kingdom. It was later named ''Trachycarpus fortunei'', after him. It was first described by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius in 1850 in his ''Historia Naturalis Palmarum'' but under the illegitimate name of ''Chamaerops excelsa''. The names ''Chamaerops excelsus'' and ''Trachycarpus excelsus'' have occasionally been misapplied to ''Trachycarpus fortunei''; these are correctly synonyms of ''

Rhapis excelsa ''Rhapis excelsa'', also known as broadleaf lady palm or bamboo palm, is a species of fan palm (Arecaceae subfamily Coryphoideae, tribe Trachycarpeae) in the genus ''Rhapis.'' It is native to southern China and northern Vietnam. The genus name i ...

'', with the confusion arising due to a misunderstanding of Japanese vernacular names.

Gallery

Vancouver palms englishbay.jpg, alt=Specimens at English Bay, Vancouver, Canada, In English Bay, Vancouver, Canada Palmtree solomons.jpg, alt=Mature plant in Solomons Island along the coast of Maryland, USA, In Solomons Island, Maryland, US Palmen Duesseldorf 083.jpg, alt=Plant in Düsseldorf, Germany, In

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, Germany Arecaceae-zhejiang2005-2.JPG, alt=Fanned leaves of T. fortunei, In

Zhuji Zhuji () is a county-level city under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Shaoxing, in north-central Zhejiang province, China, located about south of Hangzhou. It has with a population of 1,218,072 inhabitants at the 2020 census e ...

, China Snow on Trachycarpus fortunei.JPG, alt=Tree after a light fall of snow (Northern Ireland, UK), In

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

Airandspace trachycarpus.jpg, alt=Specimen at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., USA, In

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, US