Trachycarpus Wendland (1861) Fan Palm, Chinese Windmill Palm or Chusan Palm, in the family Palmae or Arecaceae, contains around 6 species in eastern Asia.

Description Trees to 20m, usually with fibrous leaf sheaths covering the unbranched trunk. The leaves are fan-shaped, divided to the middle or almost to the base. The flowers are produced in large, hanging sprays among the leaves; individual flowers small, yellow, unisexual or bisexual. Sepals 3; petals 3. Stamens 6; ovary superior, with 3 cells and 3 styles. Pollination is presumed to be by wind. The fruits are 1-seeded, rounded, bluish when ripe.

Key Recognition Features The fan-shaped leaves and usually shaggy trunk.

Evolution and Relationships Trachycarpus is close to the European Chamaerops L., which is usually short-stemmed and suckering and has strongly spiny leaf stalks.

Ecology and Geography In forest and on open slopes in the Himalayas and China.

Comment Trachycarpus fortunei (Hook.) Wendland is the most common frost-hardy palm, often planted in the milder parts of western Europe as well as in China, where the fibrous leaf sheaths are used to make capes. The much rarer T. martianus (Wall.) Wendland has a smooth trunk. Trithrinax C. Martius, from temperate South America, is now being imported to Europe; some species will tolerate 10°C of frost without damage.

Photographs:
Trachycarpus fortunei at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
Trachycarpus fortunei, flowers