t9771 KIMNACH: TRACHYCARPUS 155 The Speciesof Trachycarpus

MvnoN KrMN,s.cH HunrtngtonBotanical Gard,ens, San Marino, Calilornia91108

In compiling a handbook on subtrop- the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta, 13: i, al palms, the author has {ound that 272-286. 1933). The general inacces- r'lants of T rachycarpu.s are frequently sibility of this work and his earlier paper rrrisnamed. The most widely grown on the (in Webbia 1: 41-68. 1905) -pecies, T. fortunei, is usually identified has been responsible for most of the r'orrectly, but the names of other species confusion. ,rre often misapplied in the popular Although little of significance has literature, in nursery catalogs, and in been published on Trachycarpus since gardens. The most authoritative mono- theseworks appeared,their age implies graph of the genus is that of Beccari that new knowledge and present tax- r {siatic palms-Corypheae, in Annals of onomic standards would modify some o{ Beccari's conclusions. In particular, Trachycarpus wagnerd,nus and, T. cae- spitosus seem so closely allied to 7. lortunei that they might better be re- duced to varieties or of that species.The author would welcomeany data that would clarify the status or variability of any of the species and would especiallylike to hear o{ of thosethat appearnot to be in cultiva- tion: 7. nant^Ls?T. takil, and I. caespito- szrs. Cultivated plants should be identifi- able by means of the {ollowing key and notes, as well as from the reproductions of the only known figures of three of the species. Charactersmost useful in iden- tification are: the trunk {ibers being loosely arranged or closely appressedto the trunk; the fibrous -baseappend- ages being ribbonlike and pendent or triangular and erect; the depth and

\. Trachycarpus caespitosus,reproduced from equality of division in eachleaf; and the Bull. Soc. Tosc. Ortic. 40: 165. 1915. shapeof the fruit and seed.

A. Depth o{ leaf division regular,leaf basessoon deciduous;fruit ovoid-oblong, seedlongitudinally grooved on one side. -- -- T. martianus AA. Depth of leaf division irregular, leaf-baseslong persistenton trunk; fruit globose-reniform,seed lacking longitudinal groove. 21 156 PRINCIPES lVor.

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2. Trachycarpus tnartianus leaf, {rom Grif{ith, Palms of British lndia 1850.

B. Trunk not, or barely, emerging aboveground. --'- T' nanus BB. Trunk presentabove ground. C. Trunks multiple. T. eaespitosus CC. Trunk single. 19771 KIMNACH: TRACHYCARPUS I57

D. Leaf-blade4045 cm long, thick and leathery. - T. wagneranus DD. Leaf-blade50-85 cm lons, stiff but thinner. E. Trunk fibers loose and ruffled; leaf base appendagesribbonlike, recurving; leavesdivided more than halfway T. lortunei EE. Trunk fibers closely appressedto trunk; leaf base appendagestri- angular, erect; leavesdivided to about the middle. T. takil

Trachycarpus caespitosus evenly halfway and with a glaucous Recc.ex Roster undersurface, oblong fruits, and seeds T. tortunei var. surculosa Henry ? with a longitudinal groove (the fruits and seeds of all the other species are This speciesis still not recorded from globose-reniform and lack the longitu- the wild, having been described from dinal groove). Figures 2 and 3 show plants garden in J. Harrison Wright's in the distinctive leaf and seed. Cultivated ilir.erside, California, and in La{ayette plants of true T. martianus are rare, the Park in Los Angeles. It is the only multi- name usually being applied to an espe- trunked species,with small and rigid cially glaucous {orm of T. as leavesas in T. wagneranus, lortunei, oI which it illustrated in the well-known books by may a be only variant. Figure I is the Hertrich and McCurrach, Trachycarpus only published photo. The species is martianus is a handsomespecies with a rare in cultivation, the original plants wide range in India and Burma, yet it in California no longer existing. John seemsnot to have appearedin cultivation Dransfield informs me that gardens in in the U.S.A. until the late I960's, when England contain several multitrunked seedswere imported by Deigaard Nurs- plants of Trachycarpu.s that may prove eries from G. Ghose, a seed dealer in to be this species. India. Several attractive plants of this importation are growing at the Hunting- Trachycarpus f,ortunei ton Botanical Gardens; in 1977 seeds lHook.) H. Wendl. were set on one with pollen o{ 7. and these have confirmed its The common T. is character- lortunei lortunei identity as T. martianus. On the other ized by loosely arranged trunk fibers, ribbonlike, pendent leaf-base append- ages, and medium-sized leaf blades divided more than halfway. Plants of T. lortunei with a more glaucous leaf surface are often misnamed T. mar- tianus.

Trachycarpus martianus Wallich) H. Wendl. T. khasyanus (Griffith) H. Wendl.

One of the most distinct species,7. ntartianushas a trunk retaining the leaf basesonly within a meter or so of the crown, fibers appressedrather closelyto 3. Trachycarpus rnartianus, seed from rapheal side (14), fruit in vertical section (15), and the trunk, broadly triangular leaf-base seedin cross section (16), all X ca. Is/+,fuom appendages, that are divided very Beocari. Webbia 1: 67. 1905. lVor. 21 158 PRINCIPES

tedratsn l'v Lisa Punpelly Trachycarpus ilracocephalus, plobably syngllmou: with 7' nanus' lrom a Xerox.copy o{ plate LII in Acta Phytotax' Sin' 3' 1955'

Becc' hand, seeds supposedly of this species Trachycarpus nanus were recently available from a {oreign The name T. nanus is ordinarilY aP- seeddealer but they lack the longitudinal plied to the more dnarfecl clones o{ T' groove. L\agneranus. However. lrue T. nanus r9771 KIMNACH:TRACHYCARPUS t59

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: {;, 5. The type plant of Trachycarpustakil, fuomKew Bull. 1912: facing p.291,, I9I2. I60 PRINCIPES lVor. 2l

major details and both speciesare native to Yunnan.

Trachycarpus takil Becc. The name T. takil is o{ten applied to plants of T. wagneran&s-they are' how- ever, very different species. The only published photo of T. takil is shown in Figure 5, showing a plant in Beccari's garden in Florence, Italy. It has closely appressedtrunk {ibers, short, triangular, erect leaf-base appendages,large leaves divided rather unevenly to about the middle, and reni{orm fruits. Unfortu' nately it is rare in cultivation and no plants of this species seem to be grown in the United States.

Trachycarpus wagneranus Hort. ex. Roster

6, Trachycarpus wagnerdnus, from Hertrich, This is the common species usually Palms and cycads 93, 195I (as T. takil)' misnamed T. takil ot T. nnnu, with small, very rigid, leathery leaves divided irregularly to below the middle, loose has no appreciable aboveground stem. trunk fibers, and ribbonlike, pendent It is commonjn Yunnan, China, but has leaf-base appendages. It is known only never been bioueht-figo." into cultivation nor from cultivation. Figure 6 is of a young has a photo o, of it been pub- plant; with time the trunk maY reach lished. A similar species is T. draco- seven meters or more in height. The cephalus Ching & Hsu, with a rhizome leaves are variable as to size and the that grows horizontally below the soil trunk fibers more appressed in some surface; its only published illustration clones. It is separable from T. lortunei has been redrawn as Figure 4. This mainly by its smaller, more rigid leaves species is probably a synonym of I. and may only be a variant o{ that rla,nu,s,for the descriptions agree in soecies.

CTASSIFIED

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