Trachycarpus fortunei (Hook.) H. Wendl. (China) – A very rare and ephemeral escape from cultivation. It has been reported since 2013 from the surroundings of Antwerp, at first from Edegem, subsequently also from Ranst, Merksem, Deurne and from the inner city of Antwerp proper. Trachycarpus fortunei is self-seeding in the vicinity of planted individuals, sometimes massively so. In and near to the Botanic Garden in Antwerp several hundreds of plantules were counted in 2017 (Molenaar & Steeman 2017). It has also been observed in more remote places where parental plants are apparently absent. In such cases it could either have been introduced by birds or mammals that feed on them (e.g. black birds) or, perhaps more likely, as a contaminant in mulch.
At least at present Trachycarpus fortunei is considered an ephemeral alien in Belgium. However, it is obvious that not only adult plants but also their seedlings easily survive under Belgian climatological circumstances. In Edegem, for instance, self-sown individuals have persisted for at least five consecutive years. It is uncertain, however, whether or not this species will be able to naturalize in a near future.
Trachycarpus fortunei is one of the hardiest palm species in the world and it is increasingly planted in western Europe. It is known as an escape from the milder parts of the British Isles (Clement & Foster 1994) and recently started escaping in, for instance, Switzerland as well (e.g. Walther 2000). It is considered a significant bioindicator across continents for present-day climate change and reflects a global signal towards warmer conditions (Walther & al. 2007). In some areas in its secondary range incipient invasive behavior has been observed, for instance in Japan (Koike 2006), but also in Switzerland. Additional useful information and numerous further bibliographic references on its invasion history is provided by Global Invasive Species Database at http://www.iucngisd.org/gisd/.
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Selected references
Clement E.J. & Foster M.C. (1994) Alien plants of the British Isles. BSBI, London: XVIII + 590 p.
Koike F. (2006) Invasion of an alien palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) into a large forest. In: Koike F., Clout M.N., Kawamichi M., De Poorter M. & Iwatsuki K. (eds.), Assessment and control of biological invasion risks. Shoukadoh book sellers, Kyoto, Japan, the World Conservation Union (UICN), Gland, Switzerland: 200-203. [available online at: https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/alienplantsbelgium.belibrary/file...
Molenaar E. & Steeman R. (2017) Chinese waaierpalm voelt zich thuis in Vlaanderen. Nieuwsberichten Natuurpunt 2 februari 2017. Available online at: https://www.natuurpunt.be/nieuws/chinese-waaierpalm-voelt-zich-thuis-vla...
Walther G.R. (2000) Laurophyllisation in Switzerland. Dissertation, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich. [available online at: http://e-collection.library.ethz.ch/view/eth:23429]
Walther G.R., Gritti E.S., Berger S., Hickler T., Tang Z. & Sykes M.T. (2007) Palms tracking climate change. Global Ecol. Biogeogr. 16: 801-809. [available online at: https://emmanuelsgritti.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/walther2007.pdf]