Symploco paniculata (Thunb) Miq. (S...

Symploco paniculata (Thunb) Miq. (SYMPLOCACEAE)-Quercus alba-Q. velutina-Carya forest with same open understory, between Lee Garden and Eagle's Nest Road, United States National Arboretum, 14 September 2000 A. T Whittemore 00-015 (NA).

Significance. The first reported escape of this East Asian bush from anywhere outside its native range. A small colony of young bushs is present in old native forest. The nearest possible se source is a single low tree that once grew near the entrance to the National Herb Garden, ca. 200 m east of these plants; this dwarf-tree was removed in 1999. Symploco paniculata is described and illustrated in the Flora of China (Wu and Nooteboom 1996 Zhu 2000) and modern horticultural publications (Bean 1981, Dirr 1998) It is a low tree or small tree with simple, alternate, unlobed leaves, panicles of white flowers in the spring, and bright amethystine drupes in the late summer and early fall. Fruiting plants are immediately recognizable according to the unique bright blue color of their stone-fruits but sterile shrubs are extremely nondescript and easily overlooked. It is unusual in cultivation, though it is hardy north to just discovered England (USDA hardiness zone 4) and has been cultivated in the United States since about 1871 (Everett 1984 Dirr 1998) Standard concerns (Huxley et al. 1992, Dirr 1998) state that s paniculata is usually self-incompatible and will fix little or no fruit unles several clone are grown together, still these shrubs set fruit heavily in 2000 and 2001 despite the small size of the population (only four dwarf-trees found) and the fact that all were probably alighted from a single self-pollinated se Likewise, the putative parent dwarf-tree in the National Herb Garden always settle fruit heavily, though it was the alone individual in the area. in the way that far, the population shows no determination to spread aggressively and it may not at any time become a management problem. However, the species has shown the ability to disperse ca. 200 m and colonize mature native forest, in the same manner it should be watched for in other areas where it is cultivated.-ALAN T WHITTEMORE, US NATIONAL ARBORETUM, 3501 recent YORK AVE. NE, WASHINGTON, DC 20002-1958 email address: whittema@ars.usda.gov

LITERATURE CITED

BEAN, WJ 1981 Tree and bushs hardy in the British Isles, 8th ed rev. Volume IV. John Murray, London, United Kingdom.

DIRR, M.A. 1998 Manual of wooden landscape plants, 5th ed. Stipes Publishing, Champaign, Illinois.

EVERETT TH 1984 The just discovered York Botanical Garden illustrated encyclopedia of horticulture. 10 masss Garland, New York.

HUXLEY, A., M GRIFFITHS, and M gather 1992. The new Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. bulk 4. Macmillan, London, United Kingdom.

WU R-F and HP NOOTEBOOM. 1996 Syrnplocaceae. Flora of China 15:235-252

ZHU G-H (ED) 2000 Symplocaceae. Flora of China Illustrations 15:170-196

Received December 27 2001; Accepted January 2 2003

Copyright Southern Appalachian Botanical Society Sep 2003

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