Trachycarpus princeps

Trachycarpus princeps
Trachycarpus princeps

Family: Arecaceae    Palm Tree

Common Name: Stone Gate Palm

Common Synonymy:
Gongshan Palm

Cold Hardiness Zone: 8b     View the UK and US zone maps

Trachycarpus princeps Information

A solitary, medium sized, moderately fast growing, dioecious palm. Rare in cultivation and vulnerable in the wild. It has a hairy, brown trunk, 3 m. (10 ft.) tall, 17.8 cm. (7 inch) diameter with no obvious leaf scars, and large segmented, palmate (fan) leaves, 0.6 m. (2 ft.) long, 0.6 m. (2 ft.) wide, bluish-green above and brilliant white beneath.

Confined to cracks and crevices of near-vertical limestone cliff-faces in the wild habitat. Most of the trunk hair falls away from the trunk. This plant is suitable, while young as a houseplant or conservatory plant.

Trachycarpus princeps can survive freezing temperatures to about -9.5°C (15°F), but freezing is best avoided. It naturally occurs in wet rainforest or seasonally wet forest in high montane locations. In this type of natural environment temperature fluctuations are slight, and this palm prefers a constantly cool or mild climate with little temperature difference between day & night, and Summer & Winter. Under extreme freezing conditions we recommend you keep this palm as dry as possible, and well wrapped up.

Identification

An exceptionally attractive palm with a chestnut coloured trunk, and palmate leaves blue-green above and pure white beneath.

General Information

This is one of the rarest and certainly the most sought-after Trachycarpus species. It grows only within the Stone Gate gorge and a couple of other close by locations along the Nu Jiang river in Gongshan, Yunnan China at elevations approaching 2000 m. This location is only 20 km from the border of the Tibetan province, and 45 km from the border of Burma (Myanmar). Seeds are almost impossible to obtain. Seeds offered from this site are wild collected in the Stone Gate, Gongshan, China and guaranteed to be the real thing.

Distribution

Native to: China

Location: China (28.035215°N, 98.602242°E)

Observations

Map may not represent the complete natural distribution. (Markers display observation data).