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Celtis Sinensis Pers. (Ulmaceae) Naturalised in Northern South Africa and Keys to Distinguish Between Celtis Species Commonly Cultivated in Urban Environments

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Celtis Sinensis Pers. (Ulmaceae) Naturalised in Northern South Africa and Keys to Distinguish Between Celtis Species Commonly Cultivated in Urban Environments Bothalia - African Biodiversity & Conservation ISSN: (Online) 2311-9284, (Print) 0006-8241 Page 1 of 9 Original Research Celtis sinensis Pers. (Ulmaceae) naturalised in northern South Africa and keys to distinguish between Celtis species commonly cultivated in urban environments Authors: Background: Alien Celtis species are commonly cultivated in South Africa. They are easily 1 Stefan J. Siebert confused with indigenous C. africana Burm.f. and are often erroneously traded as such. Celtis Madeleen Struwig1,2,3 Leandra Knoetze1 australis L. is a declared alien invasive tree. Celtis sinensis Pers. is not, but has become Dennis M. Komape1 conspicuous in urban open spaces. Affiliations: Objectives: This study investigates the extent to which C. sinensis has become naturalised, 1Unit for Environmental constructs keys to distinguish between indigenous and cultivated Celtis species, and provides Sciences and Management, a descriptive treatment of C. sinensis. North-West University, South Africa Methods: Land-cover types colonised by C. sinensis were randomly sampled with 16 belt transects. Woody species were identified, counted and height measured to determine the 2 Department of Soil, Crop population structure. C. africana and the three alien Celtis species were cultivated for 2 years and Climate Sciences, University of the Free State, and compared morphologically. South Africa Results: Celtis sinensis, Ligustrum lucidum and Melia azedarach were found to be alien species, 3Department of Botany, most abundant in urban areas. The population structure of C. sinensis corresponds to that of National Museum, the declared invasive alien, M. azedarach. Although C. africana occurs naturally, it is not South Africa regularly cultivated. This is ascribed to erroneous plantings because of its resemblance to juvenile plants of C. sinensis. Keys are provided to identify Celtis species based on leaf shape Corresponding author: Stefan Siebert, and margin, and drupe characters. [email protected] Conclusion: Celtis sinensis is naturalised in central South Africa, especially in urban open Dates: spaces and beginning to colonise natural areas. It is flagged as a species with invasive potential. Received: 07 Aug. 2017 Characteristics of the leaves and fruits allow for accurate identification of indigenous and alien Accepted: 15 Nov. 2017 Celtis species, both as juvenile or adult trees. Published: 29 Mar. 2018 How to cite this article: Siebert, S.J., Struwig, M., Introduction Knoetze, L. & Komape, D.M., 2018, ‘Celtis sinensis Pers. Invasive organisms are considered to be one of the most important threats to biodiversity (Ulmaceae) naturalised in worldwide (Vitousek et al. 1997) and costs South Africa millions of rands annually to control northern South Africa and (Le Maitre et al. 2002). Southern Africa’s current concerns with invasive plants were already keys to distinguish between Celtis species commonly predicted in the 1960s and the 1970s (Stirton 1978; Wild 1961), fully recognised and documented cultivated in urban in the 1980s (Henderson et al. 1987; Wells et al. 1986) and flagged, and their invasiveness environments’, Bothalia categorised, since the 1990s (Henderson 2001; Henderson & Cilliers 2002). 48(1), a2288. https://doi. org/10.4102/abc.v48i1.2288 Urban areas are seed pools for potentially invasive alien plants, as these species are cultivated as Copyright: garden subjects in mass and propagules escape from there to become naturalised in natural areas, © 2018. The Authors. but especially along disturbed water courses and roadsides (Horvitz et al. 2014; Kalwij et al. 2008). Licensee: AOSIS. This work Naturalised species are capable of reproducing and spreading without direct assistance by people, is licensed under the Creative Commons and the most aggressive species become invaders capable of penetrating and replacing indigenous Attribution License. vegetation and threatening indigenous biodiversity (Ndhlovu, Milton & Esler 2016). Hence, the number of species becoming invasive increases annually (Seebens et al. 2017) and threatens agricultural productivity, water resources and natural ecosystems, with temperate agricultural or urban sites among the areas most invaded by alien plants (Lonsdale 1999). Read online: Although C. australis L. and C. occidentalis L. have been included in South Africa’s NEM:BA list of Scan this QR invasive species as Category 3 (Department of Environmental Affairs 2014), C. sinensis Pers. is code with your smart phone or generally considered to be naturalised, but not invasive (Henderson 2001). In cities of the northern mobile device provinces of South Africa, C. sinensis is the preferred tree for street plantings and is a regular to read online. feature in domestic gardens, parks and parking lots because of its dense foliage, fast growth rate http://www.abcjournal.org Open Access Page 2 of 9 Original Research and ability to withstand the harsh winters on the Highveld A.P. Goossens Herbarium (PUC) and the South African Plant (Lubbe, Siebert & Cilliers 2011). Invaders Atlas database (Henderson 1998). Phytosociological studies of urban areas conducted in the Cultivation records of trees were extracted from a garden 1990s hardly reported any individuals of C. sinensis (Cilliers database comprising frequency data for 256 gardens & Bredenkamp 1999), and subsequently, it was highlighted surveyed in Ganyesa, Potchefstroom and Roodepoort as an emerging invader by Mgidi et al. (2007). In recent years, (Davoren et al. 2016). Three land-cover types (riparian, C. sinensis (which originates from China, Japan and Korea) rangelands and urban open space) were identified within a has become very conspicuous in urban open spaces, roadsides 60 km radius of Potchefstroom, and 16 belt transects per and riparian areas on the Highveld. Celtis sinensis also poses land-cover were sampled. Transects were 50 m × 5 m, and a major threat to the indigenous C. africana Burm.f., as it and every woody species within each transect was identified up the closely related C. australis hybridise readily with the to species level, counted and the height measured with a former in Gauteng (Glen & Van Wyk 2016). In a study by clinometer. Land-cover type data were supplemented with Whittemore and Townsend (2007) on the hybridisation frequency data from 16 belt transects from domestic gardens potential of Celtis species, C. sinensis was one of the species (Davoren et al. 2016) and included in the study for that tested positive for this ability. Buck and Bidlack (1998) comparative purposes. found that data sets of morphological and isozymic data demonstrate congruity among Celtis species, which is Height class distributions were compiled for each species. ascribable to hybridisation. Sturge’s rule was applied (Scott 2009) to determine the size- class distribution and frequency intervals for the population Three of the eight African Celtis species are indigenous to graphs. Stability between successive size classes was southern Africa, namely the widespread C. africana (white determined with quotient analysis (Botha, Witkowski & stinkwood), C. gomphophylla Baker (false white stinkwood) in Shackleton 2004). The likelihood that any two trees within a the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, and C. mildbraedii population originate from the same size-class was assessed Engl. (Natal white stinkwood) in KwaZulu-Natal and by Simpson’s Index of Dominance (SDI) (Venter & Witkowski Swaziland (Pooley 1997). Three alien Celtis species from 2010). Permutation Index (PI) was calculated for each species temperate regions are commonly cultivated in South Africa to calculate the degree of deviation from a monotonic decline (Kuruneri-Chitepo & Shackleton 2011; Lubbe et al. 2011; or from an inverse-J curve (Wiegand et al. 2000). Molebatsi, Siebert & Cilliers 2013), namely C. australis (nettle tree) from southern Europe and western Asia, C. occidentalis Juvenile morphology (hackberry) from northern USA and Canada, and C. sinensis (Chinese nettle tree), all of which are easily confused with Seeds were collected from correctly identified C. africana, C. africana in the juvenile stage. Celtis sinensis is especially C. australis, C. occidentalis and C. sinensis in the field and cultivated extensively in urban environments, as it is readily germinated at the North-West University Botanical Garden. available from nurseries where it is sold as ‘stinkwood’, Plants were maintained under identical nursery conditions creating the impression that it is the indigenous C. africana for 3 years in terms of watering, fertiliser additions and because of morphological similarities. percentage shade. The length and width of the petiole, leaf and fruit of six plants per species were measured This article investigates the extent to which C. sinensis has (plants < 1.5 m in height). become naturalised in urban open spaces and surrounding agricultural areas in the central part of northern South Africa. Results and discussion Celtis sinensis is not a declared alien invasive tree in South Cultivation and naturalisation patterns Africa, and this article compares its population data with that of an indigenous (C. africana) and declared alien tree species Celtis sinensis occurs as a garden subject throughout South (Melia azedarach L.) from similar urban and agricultural Africa and is one of the ten most widely cultivated species in environments in the Tlokwe Municipal area. A key is our sample of Highveld gardens (third overall, Table 1). It is provided to distinguish between the indigenous and cultivated
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