Virginia Tech Dendrology

Chinese windmill palm Arecaceae Trachycarpus fortunei (Hook.) H. Wendl. symbol: TRFO3
Leaf: Alternate, evergreen, palmately compound, fan shaped, leaf stalks 3 feet long and armed with 2 rows of small spines (sometimes these are reduced to bumps), leaflets lance shaped, yellow-green in color, overall leaf 3 feet in diameter, leaflet edges entire.
Flower: Species is dioecious; Small yellow-green flowers occurring on 2-3 foot branched clusters, appearing in spring.
Fruit: Fleshy yellow to glaucous blue drupe, nearly round, 1/2 inch across, maturing in fall.
Bark: Gray-brown and smooth, but usually obscured by the fibrous burlap-like leaf bases.
Form: A stout straight trunk with a tuft of leaves at the top, to 50 feet but commonly much shorter than that; without pruning the trunks are usually sheathed in fibrous dead leaves (a "skirt") that extend nearly to the ground.

Additional Range Information: Trachycarpus fortunei is planted in the USDA hardiness zones shown above and is not known to widely escape cultivaton. Download the full-size PDF map.
External Links: USDA Plants Database - Horticulture Information
All material 2025 Virginia Tech Dept. of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation; Photos and text by: John Seiler, Edward Jensen, Alex Niemiera, and John Peterson; Silvics reprinted from Ag Handbook 654; range map source information