What has naturalized in your area?

[Zeeth]

I've seen these topics before, but they were pretty old, so I thought I'd start a new one.

What plants have you seen popping up in the more natural areas? Besides the Roystonea regia I am naturalizing on purpose, grapefruit from seed naturalizes quite readily, I've seen numerous trees in areas where there were no groves, and people didn't put them there. I've seen other citrus too, but grapefruit most often. It's kind of weird as tristeza virus is apparently rampant in Manatee county. I've seen a couple of wild queen palms, but not very many. Not too many others that I've seen lately. What about you guys?

[Musi]

'Trachycarpus' here for North Western Europe. Almost every neighboorhood seems to have a few. (Horticulural not by nature of course)

Edited August 2, 2009 by Musi

[Zeeth]

'Trachycarpus' here for North Western Europe. Almost every neighboorhood seems to have a few. (Horticulural not by nature of course)

Ok, how about this. Along with the other part of what has been seen to pop up in the wild, what palms do you suspect that, under the right conditions, will begin to be naturalized? How about we spice it up with a hypothetical situation in which it might happen.

Here's what I expect:

Foxtails do very well here on their own. If planted they will likely grow in many types of woods, including dry. The only problem is the seeds. They are so large that birds can't pick them up. They likely won't be distributed by birds, and maybe not squirrels, but I think raccoons will be excellent seed distributers. If raccoons develop a taste for the fruit, I could see them picking the seeds up from mature trees and carrying them to a river to douse them (apparently the water increases the sensitivity of their hands, so they dip the food in water while feeling it) and eat them in the area, discarding the stone, which, given the right conditions, will germinate and create a new tree in the woods, which will begin the cycle again. The part about this I think will help is if they leave the seed by the river and it grows and fruits, it will drop some seed in the river, which will float down until it hits land where it will germinate etc etc. Thus, rivers and creeks will be where I expect foxtails to develop most.

I also expect that if the seeds can be carried by animals and it becomes more popular, Beccariophoenix will become naturalized also, likely alfredii because of the cold hardiness. If raccoons fail to become the distributers, deer might, and maybe a cow that is slurping up the grass around the base of the trunk of a farmers Beccariophoenix alfredii (that he bought and planted once Wal mart starts selling them en masse) and ingests some lucky seed, and poops it out in the middle of the woods, where the tractors don't mow and the rest of the cows won't eat the developing plant.

I have high hopes for Roystonea to become native to the area again. Besides the weird kids planting the seeds in the swamps in front of their house, they can easily be distributed by birds, as the seeds are tiny.

[buffy]

We've discussed Sabal mexicana naturalizing from Austin, Texas southward to its most recent northern limit on the lower Rio Grande. My personal view is that Sabal mexicana was native to the lower 1/3rd of Texas before the little ice age froze them back to the border. Early reports of trunking palms in the region lend credo to the hypothesis in addition to the palms noticeable affinity to the local conditions.

[Patrick]

One thing that I found around town that I found to be surprising and exciting was a small stand of Caesalpinia gilliesii on the roadside on the north end of town. They're my kind of "weeds". I can understand why they're there and so hardy now that I have one of my own in my yard!

[tjwalters]

I'm east of Washington, DC - mid-way between DC and Annapolis, MD - and my Sabal minor palms are now self-seeding. I have little ones popping up everywhere in the same garden. I've also noticed one or two popping up in other gardens in the yard. Could be that these would continue to spread and would naturalize in a few decades.

[tjwalters]

On 8/2/2009, 5:50:13, tjwalters said:

I'm east of Washington, DC - mid-way between DC and Annapolis, MD - and my Sabal minor palms are now self-seeding. I have little ones popping up everywhere in the same garden. I've also noticed one or two popping up in other gardens in the yard. Could be that these would continue to spread and would naturalize in a few decades.

Update:  There are now S. minor palms popping up in neighbors' yards, including across the street, where the neighbor had two that were several years old and he had no idea what they were.

[cm05]

Nothing, lol.

[doranakandawatta]

Corypha umbraculifera, real weeds 

 

[tropicbreeze]

Birds and Flying Foxes are bringing in a lot of Caryota mitis and Ptychosperma macarthuri seeds and it's a big job trying to rip all the seedlings out. There's another one I suspect is some type of Sabal but don't really know. There's a native palm here, was originally named Ptychosperma bleeseri but later found to be a variety of P. macarthuri. The one being distributed by birds is the cultivated one, not the native. I'm seeing more and more of all these in natural areas and no one seems to do anything about it.

[greysrigging]

3 hours ago, tropicbreeze said:

Birds and Flying Foxes are bringing in a lot of Caryota mitis and Ptychosperma macarthuri seeds and it's a big job trying to rip all the seedlings out. There's another one I suspect is some type of Sabal but don't really know. There's a native palm here, was originally named Ptychosperma bleeseri but later found to be a variety of P. macarthuri. The one being distributed by birds is the cultivated one, not the native. I'm seeing more and more of all these in natural areas and no one seems to do anything about it.

Couldn't have explained it better myself....was about to comment about these two species myself re the Darwin region. I am forever mowing / digging out Fishtail and MacArthur seedlings. We have a rain forest park called Holmes Jungle only a few miles from the suburb of Karama....and yes I have seen Caryota Mitis growing there......distributed by Torres Straight Pigeons and fruit bats no doubt, The Parks mob actively cull feral species from that Stuart Park remnant rain forest area as well.

[Jdiaz31089]

Both species of washingtonia (and hybrids), along with phoenix canariensis have naturalized in the riparian forest areas in California. I've seen one or two syagus along the rivers here as well. I think that other palms could potentially follow suit (a bit of "help" from enthusiasts wouldn't hurt ). 

I've always thought that Jubaea chilensis might be able to naturalize here if given the chance. We have century-old specimens in town, and from my understanding they are native to the western slopes of the Andes to an area with a climate similar to ours. When I see habitat photos of Jubaea, I imagine they would look great with our own chaparral plant community. In the photo below: the hills just 15 miles east of where I live, and below - habitat photos of Jubaea in Chile. 

Beccariophoenix alfredii, if proven hardy here, could be another palm well-suited to live along the rivers here. Don't you think? The San Joaquin river at the outskirts of Fresno, and below - beccariophoenix in Madagascar. 

[Alberto]

Here I have some Chamaedorea microspadix naturalizing in my forest

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

In Jacksonville Livistona saribus, naturalized in the wet, shady areas.  Probably true of L chinensis too, though I never saw them.  I did see a Phoenix mutt coming up next to a telephone pole there too.  Looked like it had some reclinata genes.  Here in Central FL we see Queens and Washingtonia robusta volunteer from time to time.  

[SouthSeaNate]

In Malta Washingtonia robusta, Phoenix canariensis & Phoenix dactylifera have all naturalised. P. dactylifera have been naturalised for such a long time that they are protected & treated as "native". Chamaerops humilis is native here, but only now found in a few very protected spots.

[kinzyjr]

Here in town, roughly the same as @Keith in SoJax.  In my yard, the biggest contributor to the "volunteer" category is phoenix roebelenii.  I've found volunteers near my walkways, up against the house, mixed in with shrubs, and in each of the planting beds. 

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

7 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

Here in town, roughly the same as @Keith in SoJax.  In my yard, the biggest contributor to the "volunteer" category is phoenix roebelenii.  I've found volunteers near my walkways, up against the house, mixed in with shrubs, and in each of the planting beds. 

Oh yea, I forgot about those.  I've found some too.  Our garden isn't that well established yet so we don't have too many mature palms but the P roebelenii does produce viable seed.  

Phoenix reclinata seedlings are pretty thick under the one that seeds.  I can see how they might cross over to the invasive category in the right environment.  

[awkonradi]

I realize a single specimen may not constitute "naturalization", but here is a Phoenix dactylifera (not canariensis, I think) volunteer along CA 92, between San Mateo and Half Moon Bay.

https://goo.gl/maps/iKpmZp7exFv

I do not understand how this could be here except from someone throwing a date pit out of their car window.

Edited July 8, 2017 by awkonradi

[Cape Garrett]

Here in Cape Coral and Fort Myers area I've seen Queens, Royals,  Washingtonias, various Phoenix hybrids,  Arecas and Coconuts growing naturally on sides of roads near wooded areas as well.  Kings and Christmas palms seed like mad in my gardens.  Surprised they haven't naturalized here.  It's all about dispersal I guess.  Bismarck, Foxtails and Livistona seed easily here as well...in gardens anyway.

[The Germinator]

My Triangle is producing volunteers here in SoCal. My Wodyetia is fruiting and if it was not completely surrounded by cement I bet the seeds would pop on their own.

[Alicante]

Chamaerops are the only native palm trees and they can be found even well inland at 800-900m of altitude in the province of Valencia and at a bit lower altitude in the greener regions of Alicante. In the mountains near me I found them at an altitude of 600-650m in pretty big size and number, looking excellent.

Phoenix palm trees as well as Washingtonias are naturalised literally everywhere on the coast, specially Phoenixes, this ones being naturalised well inland too at medium altitudes, for example, I've pictured a couple of naturalised Phoenixes near Alcoy, Alicante at 600-650m of altitude, which is great. I've seen very few naturalised Washingtonias at more than 10km from the coast in a straight line, but they're very, very common on the coast or not far from it. 

Yep, here 90% of the P. Canariensis died too, I knew a couple naturalised close to my grandma's house since I was small and they died in 2011, it was a real pity, it's all the fault of the red weevil from SE Asia introduced here, most are dead nowadays but they didn't attack other palms at this moment. 

 

They had to protect the public ones, although even some public ones which were detected too late with the weevil died, and they did a very big improvement to stop the weevil from entering the palmeral of Elche, which is like the 3rd biggest palm grove of the world and has many CIDP (P.Dactylferas dominate it)