Urban palms in Taipei

[Dave-Vero]

This was my first solo visit to a city where I'm totally clueless about the language and much of the culture.  Since it was a break after a hyperactive January, it was also kind of underplanned.  Not to mention that getting there took an extra day because the plane was diverted to Hong Kong.  Great chance to visit what must be the world's best airport.  

I spent one and a half days at the National Palace Museum.  Crowding was a problem, but arriving promptly at nine provided an hour of peace.   The visit to the newly refurbished museum, probably the best collection of Chinese art in existence, confirmed that they sent some of their very best items to the US ten years ago.  Our country was greatly privileged.

The National Palace held a free Taiwanese Opera performance after closing time.  While waiting for the performance begin, people managed to bring in lots of good food and drink came in, which seemed sort of impressive since the area around the Museum didn't have too much in the way of eating places.  Afterward, a cosmopolitan horticulture guy spotted me and we went through Shihlin Night Market discussing ornamentals and citrus.

The National History Museum and the adjacent botanical garden were worth an afternoon.  The museum has a wonderful display of old bronzes, especially a huge bronze drum.  Their nice shop is opening a branch at the airport.  The botanical garden looks like it's making do with a limited budget.  The boardwalks and other walkways are in excellent condition and often beautifully designed, but some of the collections and displays seem a little neglected.  Labelling is excellent, and I appreciate the huge effort the garden made to present information in English

The National Taiwan University campus had lots of interesting trees with detailed English labels.  At least interesting to a visiting botanist.  The royal palms at the campus and elsewhere in Taipei were really impressive.

The hot spring resort of Beitou was neat.  The spring pool smells exactly like some at Yellowstone National Park.

Guandu Nature Park, at the edge of a big marsh, sells a wonderful English-language book "Birdwatcher's Guide to the Taipei Region" published by the Taipei City Government.  Just west of the park, a path along a dike separating fresh water marsh from mangrove vegetation was a great place to watch birds and weekend visitors, and their dogs.  The nearby temple's roof decorations were incredibly elaborate.

The Kuang Hua market area's weekend  farmers' market was  not terribly large, but had lots of interesting foods, from gigantic grapefruit to local sweet potatoes (unfortunately the pale kind--bright orange ones are better, at least according to us in the southeastern United States).  I picked up roasted peanuts, a container of "pumpkin snow" (powdered pumpkin for adding to soups and whatnot--evidently a product that a local farmers cooperative is trying out), tea (of course), and a jar of petrified grapefruit cubes.  I'm not sure how they transform grapefruits into solid brown balls, but the agriculture inspectors at San Francisco Airport were familiar with the product and it's OK with them!  

The Su Ho Memorial Paper Culture Foundation has a  wonderful bunch of displays and two workshops, where guests can actually make traditional Taiwanese paper.    

It's very nice that the Taipei subway, ATM machines, and other services are easily accessible to English speakers.  There certainly didn't seem to be very many American or European tourists.  There's lots of small, specialized shops.  The number of parked motor scooters on the sidewalks is amazing.  Some of the urban parks are nicely designed and very well cared for, especially small ones.  One even had orchids and epiphytic ferns planted on the trees.  The countdown pedestrian traffic signals are unique.    In the United States, the only more or less comparable place would be New York, with its busy street life, especially in immigrant communities in places like Queens borough.

And it was great to see the high mountains from the plane.

[Dave-Vero]

Palms labelled Sabal blackburniana at the Botanical Garden

[paulgila]

so was it pretty easy to get along for someone who doesn't speak chinese?are there more pics coming?

i've only been in the airport & i'm curious about what lies

beyond...

[Dave-Vero]

I was really amazed at how easy it was to get by with no knowledge of Chinese.  Even the ATM machines quickly figure out you're a foreigner and turn over to English.  The fare card system for subway and bus is a dream, very similar to London's Oyster Card.  People are very helpful and accommodating.  I can't think of a nicer city to visit.  

Here's tall palms at the Botanical Garden.

[Dave-Vero]

Here's a label for Sabal blackburniana at the Botanical Garden.  Very stately Chinese characters.

[Dave-Vero]

Livistonas are pretty common as street trees, and overall seem the most popular palms in Taipei.  This was near the Botanical Garden.

[Dave-Vero]

Botanical Garden.  Neat little greenhouse (you look in the windows to see the plants inside) and a grand Livistona.

[Dave-Vero]

A palm trunk at the botanical garden, I think one of those "Sabal blackburniana".

[Dave-Vero]

Intersection of the two royal palm boulevards at the National Taiwan University.  Oddly, the otherwise very good International Travel Maps map of Taipei calls it "Coconut Palm Boulevard."

[Dave-Vero]

Royals behind a gate at the Chiang Kai Sek Memorial.

[Dave-Vero]

A little cycad?  It's on a rock in a garden near the National Theater, near that big gate

[Dave-Vero]

Big palm!

[Dave-Vero]

Golden Palm (I've seen some of these in West Palm Beach, not far from the jail)

[Dave-Vero]

One of those beautiful mini-parks

[Dave-Vero]

Ferns planted on the tree trunks in a mini-park

[Dave-Vero]

Baobabs (Adansonia digitata--a plaque at the bottom of the tree tells you so) used as street trees in the suburbs

[Dave-Vero]

Bidens frondosa, a common weedy North American plant that's become a common weedy plant in Taipei.  These are along the spring run in Beitou.

[Dave-Vero]

Palm with warm feet--that's the stream of hot water from the hot spring at Beitou.

[Dave-Vero]

By the way, a lot of Chinese citizens, possibly some of them from Fujian Province, across the strait from Taiwan, worked in Cuba in the late 1800s.  I wonder whether they might have sent royal palm seeds back home?

[SubTropicRay]

Very informative. Thanks Dave.

[glbower]

I haven't been to Taipei or Taiwan in more than 15 years (before I became addicted to palms). Your pics make me want to go back again. And, of course, the food is out of this world if you are a Chines food fan like I am.

[paulgila]

it looks very clean.

how long did it take to see the botanical garden?

great pics,thanks so much!

[Dave-Vero]

Taipei 101, the new skyscraper that almost seems to have been built to advertise an upscale shopping mall, has a huge food court, complete with an international supermarket.  The food court has a KFC and some sort-of Western style shops, but everything else is local.  I think Taipei residents must be like New Yorkers, with rather crowded apartments.  So they eat out!  Street life after dark is really lively.

Regrettably, much of Taipei seemed covered with dust/grit, probably because of a dry spell.  There's also quite a bit of construction underway, including two new subway lines.  

I spent several hours at the botanical garden because labelling was so extensive.  Their palm area is shaded and has some nice understory species, but there seems to be room for adding some big palms.  I'd possibly suggest several more species of Livistona.  And if space is available, a few Bismarkia, which is almost certainly too large and prone to wind damage to be planted widely in Taiwan, but which might do OK in relatively wind-protected Taipei.

[Trópico]

Thanks Dave, looking forward to seeing more!

[paulgila]

i am considering trying to convince my better half to spend a day or two there on our way to bali next time!

thanks again for the great pics,looking forward to more!

[Dave-Vero]

I haven't been to China, but I get a feeling that Taipei is a splendid place to encounter Chinese culture, even if it's a young city with a really odd history.  It was officially established as a walled city by the Chinese government in the late 1800s, then taken over by the Japanese for 50 years (lots of official buildings remain), and then occupied by the Nationalist government.  I'm very impressed that such a vibrant and affluent society has emerged under such difficult conditions.  Taiwan has also contributed a lot to China's economic development.  Taipei is also wonderful because Western tourists are kind of rare, and genuinely welcome.

By the way, I saw almost nothing planted around the airport.  Possibly a matter of being at the wrong terminal.  It's a perfectly nice facility, but it just doesn't communicate "tropical paradise".

[amazondk]

Thanks Dave.  I was only there once in 1993 and was not looking at palms at the time.  I did go to a real nice plant fair though.

dk

[Zac in NC]

Thanks for sharing the pics Dave. It was nice to see them, especially Baobab used as a street tree. They better have large median strips for a tree like that. Egads!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Zac

[Dave-Vero]

Thanks for the kind words.  I have a somewhat longer post at Central Florida Palm's Gardening Forum (2ndlight.com)

One of the nicer souvenirs I brought back is a used Taiwan ink stone, the sort that you grind the ink on, to feed a little well for dipping the brush.  I doubt that I'll ever develop any technique, but it's a reminder that learning even a beginner's set of characters can be useful.

[ytchang]

(Dave-Vero @ Feb. 19 2007,17:02)

QUOTE

Palms labelled Sabal blackburniana at the Botanical Garden

Dave, Thank you for your comments. I am a resident of Taiwan. My English is not good but trying to explain some information.

I am sorry to say it isn’t sabal because I knew these palms in Taipei botanical garden. They are sugar palms (Borassus flabellifera). This picture was took last Oct is the tallest one in your photo. It is still has fruits on.

[ytchang]

(Dave-Vero @ Feb. 19 2007,17:12)

QUOTE

Here's tall palms at the Botanical Garden.

The tall, thin and non-branch palms are Alexandra Palm. There are a lots in north Taiwan because the tolerance of cool. Sometimes it is below 10℃ in winter at Taipei.

[ytchang]

(Dave-Vero @ Feb. 19 2007,17:19)

QUOTE

Livistonas are pretty common as street trees, and overall seem the most popular palms in Taipei.  This was near the Botanical Garden.

Livistona is one of seven native palms in Taiwan. They are very common.

[ytchang]

(Dave-Vero @ Feb. 19 2007,17:41)

QUOTE

Big palm!

This one is oil palm.

[ytchang]

(Dave-Vero @ Feb. 19 2007,18:15)

QUOTE

By the way, a lot of Chinese citizens, possibly some of them from Fujian Province, across the strait from Taiwan, worked in Cuba in the late 1800s.  I wonder whether they might have sent royal palm seeds back home?

The old palms in Taiwan are almost planted by Japanese in 1900s. They liked to plant palms especially royal palm around the official building including National Taiwan University. It isn’t introduced by Chinese citizens who worked in Cuba. They also built some botanical gardens including the one in Taipei.

[ytchang]

(Dave-Vero @ Feb. 19 2007,17:50)

QUOTE

One of those beautiful mini-parks

Spindle palms, bottle palms and yellow areca palms are used in landscape very much.

[ytchang]

(Dave-Vero @ Feb. 19 2007,17:50)

QUOTE

One of those beautiful mini-parks

Spindle palms, bottle palms and yellow areca palms are used in landscape very much.

[ytchang]

(Dave-Vero @ Feb. 19 2007,18:02)

QUOTE

Palm with warm feet--that's the stream of hot water from the hot spring at Beitou.

this is Arecae catechu. Betel nuts are the most palms in Taiwan. They are planted in south plain and center mountain area. Some people have the habit chewing the soft nuts for refresh.

Dave, Had you saw the sexy girls sitting in small glass window house beside the traffic road when you were in Taiwan? Their work is to sell betel nuts.

[Dave-Vero]

ytchang,

Thanks very much for your comments and identifications!  Your English is excellent.  

Thanks for providing the correct identity of that beautiful Borassus flabellifera at the Taipei botanical garden and other comments and corrections!  

I'm impressed that the Alexandra palms have grown so tall.  We have only recently begun growing them in central Florida, where occasional freezes will almost certainly kill them before they reach such height.

I should have guessed that the Japanese planted royal palms when I saw the streets at National Taiwan University.  They really mark the "official" areas around Taipei.  

I missed the betel nut sellers!  I've found that a first visit to almost any city is confusing, and the second time I see things that didn't seem to be there  the first time.    

Chinese workers in Cuba were mistreated, so the Chinese government investigated and issued a report, which is available in English translation.

[chris.oz]

In my recent trip to Taiwan, by far the most common palm was Areca catechu which is grown in plantations, but where I spent a little time down in Hualien, on the Pacific coast, there are many many Hyophorbe verschaffeltii planted as street trees which are fruiting abundantly . I suppose I could have harvested hundreds of kilograms of seeds which were just falling to the side walks everywhere.

On the road down there you will see many native Arenga growing beside the road in the valleys on the cliff.