Photinia villosa (Thunb.) DC. (SE As.) – A very rare escape from cultivation. Discovered in 2009 in woodland in Baudour (Bois de Baudour, Quartier de la Charbonnière) and subsequently regularly confirmed. More than a hundred saplings ranging from 10 to 250 cm have been counted in this area and Photinia villosa is obviously naturalized here. In 2011 and 2018 discovered in similar circumstances in Rumst (abandoned clay pit) and 's Gravenwezel (Schilde) respectively.
Plants in cultivation usually belong with var. laevis (Thunb.) Dippel (Gardner & Knees 1995, De Koning & al. 2000), a less hairy variant. The population from Baudour also belongs there but this taxon is not upheld by present-day Chinese taxonomists and its taxonomic value may be questionable (Lingdi & Spongberg 2003).
 |
 |
Selected literature:
Connolly B.A. & Brand M.H. (2016) Vouchering Photinia villosa (Rosaceae) as a wild plant in Connecticut. Rhodora 118(975): 320-321. [available online at: http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.3119/15-31]
De Koning J., Van den Broek J.W., Van de Laar H.J. & Fortgens G. (2000) Nederlandse dendrologie (13e druk). H. Veenman & zonen, Ede: 585 p.
Gardner M.F. & Knees S.G. (1995) Photinia. In: Cullen J. & al. (eds.), The European Garden Flora, vol. 4. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 424-426.
Lingdi L. & Spongberg S.A. (2003) Photinia. In: Wu Z.Y. & Raven P.H. (eds.), Flora of China, vol. 9. Science Press, Beijing & Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis: 121-137. [available online at: http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/PDF/PDF09/Photinia.PDF]