"Kumaon palm "

Description

Trachycarpus takil, the Kumaon palm, is a fan palm tree that is endemic to the foothills of the Himalaya in southern Asia. It is very similar to Trachycarpus fortunei, the Windmill palm. The palm tree is native to the Kumaon division of Uttarakhand Province in northwestern India, and into adjacent western Nepal. The palm grows at altitudes of 1,800–2,700 m (5,900–8,900 ft) and it receives snow and frost on a regular basis in its native habitat. Trachycarpus takil grows to 10–15 metres (33–49 ft) tall, with a rough trunk covered in partial fiber from the old leaf bases as it sheds its fronds naturally leaving only a small part of the leaf bases on the trunk which also disappear in time. It is one of the cold hardiest palms to produce a tall trunk, tolerating temperatures from −14 to −20 °C (7 to −4 °F) and possibly more (no official studies have been made). However, leaf damage or total defoliation due to extreme temperatures is a possibility. Trachycarpus takil was first discovered by a Major Madden, a British Army colonel with a passion for botany stationed in the Himalayas during the 1840s. Unfortunately, while Madden produced precise descriptions of both the plant and location, he made the mistake of assuming it to be Trachycarpus martianus, failing to realize it was a separate species, thus losing the chance to claim its discovery. First officially described by the Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari in 1905 ("Le Palme del Genere Trachycarpus", in Webbia I). The leaves naturally shed themselves unlike Trachycarpus fortunei, leaving a semi bare trunk covered in fiber from the old leaf bases. Petioles about as long as the blade. Blade 3⁄4 orbicular, 1–1.2 m (3–4 ft) in diameter, irregularly divided down to about the middle into 45–50 segments, 60–85 cm (24–33 in) in length from the top of the petiole (hastula) to the apex of the median segments, the latter stiff and erect, not with drooping tips. Trachycarpus takil is cultivated as an ornamental tree, including use as a cold hardy outdoor palm in colder climates than most palms could survive in. The greatest reported cold tolerance is −27.5 °C (−17.5 °F) by four specimens in Plovdiv, Bulgaria during a severe cold spell on January 6, 1993, and placing it in USDA Zone 5; and after researching this reference all characteristics point to this palm being of the species Trachycarpus takil and therefore moved from Trachycarpus fortunei to here.