Palm tree origins in Hong Kong

Submitted by Jessica on

I've been fascinated by the importation of palm trees across various colonies around the world, and I am wondering where the first batch of those planted in HK came from (and when they were introduced). Does anyone have some information on that or some pointers as to where I might find it ? 

Most of the species in Hong Kong are non-native except for a few (of smaller size, some are listed on the HK Herbarium website, although I don't know if they have a full census:  https://www.herbarium.gov.hk/en/hk-plant-database/search-result/index.html?quick_search=palm&page=2 ). 

I know that: 

  • “Historic photos of the city’s streetscapes from as early as 1860 show mature street trees, indicating that planting must have commenced right at the outset of the colonial period.” 

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    “Afforestation, however, was initiated some thirty years after the inception of the city, and only started to have effect in the 1880s and 1890s, at a time when the initial phase of street tree planting was coming to an end.” 
    (Robert Pryor, Mathew Street Tree Planting in Hong Kong in the Early Colonial Period (1842–98))

  • Tree-planting started along the streets before turning into afforestation efforts. As palm trees are usually used as a decorative tool, I think it must have started before the 1860s ?
  • In a report by Charles Ford (first superintendent of the Hong Kong Botanical Gardens), Palms “have quite filled the ground” - 1879
  • “By 1898, some thirty different tree and palm species had been planted along the City’s streets and roads” (Corlett, ‘Environmental forestry in Hong Kong: 1871–1997’)

 

Any pointers would be lovely, be it archives I could check or books/records ! Cheers

 

 

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Hi Jessica,

Looks like a good start of this study.

I come across few leads by a brief inquiry from the sources. There are others.

   ▪ early as 1876, it was mentioned that 'The Palms ... now nearly 50 species in the gardens' in a Mr Ford's report published years later
   ▪ in 1877, cocoanut palm (sic) to be more widely cultivated is considered, as recommended by the Governor (this time, from one Surveyor General's report) **
   ▪ in the 1880s, a detailed study of Chinese fan palm is covered in appendix (** link to an Admin Report of 1886, Botanical and Afforestation Dept.)

   In the early years, there may not have standard contents among the government reports. e.g. gazettes, admin reports, sessional papers may be issued interchangeably.
 

When we read some report from begin to end, not just first keyword hits : D , I think some answers about the origins are literal. In fact, Hong Kong is already a 'global city' (for plants) then in the early decades. Interesting to learn about.

Meanwhile, as the Hk herbarium website, there are quite many palms that only botanists may distinguish. 
So what main theme and scope you would expect to emerge from your study question ? That may be a reflective question to take with yourself along the way.  

Hope above two pieces of starters may help your journey forward.
My two cents.


With regards.

p.s. for current students studying in universities, I know they may have access to new gen of tools in library domain to help starting a research topic 

** as David's reminder before, users may click the link twice to load such gro report -- this is a known issue of that website

On the internet, I found the following video: Hong Kong Architecture | Middle Man Hong Kong - Episode 4 - Palm Tree.

This does not give the answer desired, but it gives some additional information. It is referred that, in 1847, the Scottish botanist Robert Fortune said:" Everyone complained of the barren appearance of the island, and the intense heat and glare, one of the principal reasons is the absence of trees."   

In the video, it is reported that palm trees were imported from Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. As said before, no date is given, but it could be that planting started in the 1850s already.

Addendum: palm trees likely weren't the first imported trees. These were pines, acacias, chinquapins, Lophostemon confertus (evergreen tree from Queensland), and eucalyptus. (Source)

Hello everyone, thank you for your guidance and help. Much appreciated.

For some more context to my research, I’m currently researching landscape architecture in postcolonial port-cities. More specifically, I'm looking into palm trees in Hong Kong and their importation history into the city as they have been planted throughout various colonies, often as a symbol of colonial recreation/ownership, with the idea of an imagined idyllic, tropical, faraway land. I think tracing their import origins into Hong Kong could be of great help to try and determine the logic behind this specific tree, seeing its connotations.

More broadly, I’m also looking into the politics of planting the hills :

“The afforestation of Hong Kong was another visible sign of the munificent change wrought on the ‘barren rock’ by the British. The greening of the colony should perhaps be viewed, in this context, as part of an environmental ‘engineering’, planning, and regulation of the land[…]” [p1184]
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“while the impetus to afforest Hong Kong was driven by medical and sanitary concerns, the ideal of a ‘verdant’ Hong Kong fed into an imperial British imaginary that sought to mould the indigenous and insalubrious ‘Chinese’ landscape—a ‘naked tropical rock’—into an ornamental forestscape that interpolated and naturalized racial and social divides, releasing the island’s potential productivity in a landscape of ‘beauty and healthfulness’” [p 1180-1181] 


(Both quotes from: Hygienic Nature: Afforestation and the greening of colonial Hong Kong, Robert Peckham: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-asian-studies/article/ab… )

I’d also be interested in linking all this back to Kew Gardens as an imperial botanical network.

I think you have all provided great research material. Thank you. The supplement to the HK Gazette (Apr 1887) and the mention of the Fan Palm cultivation in Tuen Mun is fascinating as a hint to native palms and their cultivation prior to the British administration. The video is also an unexpected find that could provide more leads on the sources of import !  

Curious to see how this unfolds and if more people have any leads.

Cheers