My first encounter with the Taiwan tree viburnum, Viburnum arboricola, was on our 2008 expedition to Taiwan. Below is our garden specimen, grown from seed from that trip. Some taxonomists consider it a subspecies of Viburnum odoratissima, but we feel it is distinctive enough to warrant species status. While our plant has now topped 20′ in height, we’re still waiting for the first sign of the clusters of white flowers, followed by stalks of bright red fruit – hopefully, this year!
Dear Mr. Avent :
Hope all is well, over there in ‘Trump-land’ ?! And then I’ve actually been engaged in a longer correspondence with a certain Professor Gerhard Zotz, in the N. German Oldenburg University, concerning his efforts to “make us forget all about the existence of Temperate Epiphytic Plants”, by inventing his theory of ‘Accidental Epiphytism’…(!)
And then a name like Viburnum ARBORICOLUM begs for an explanation, don’t you think,- and I would love to hear whether you are now also able to confirm the ephiphytic nature of this Viburnum in nature & over in Taiwan…?!
Sincerely Yours
Støcker
DENMARK
NB.: Hope the Pinus yunnanensis var. pygmaea is doing well, Over There…and actually happen to represent ‘The Real MacKoy’…?
S.
We have observed Dr. Zotz’s accidental epiphytism for decades with a variety of plants, so the concept isn’t new, as he mentions. In most cases, it accidental epiphytism is simply where an animal deposited the seed in the canopy of a host plant. While plant will grow there for a while, in most cases it is not viable long term if the plants which require either more direct light, or a larger root zone. We have not witnessed it on Viburnum arboricola, but since that species has seed which could easily be transported by birds, it certainly would be a good candidate, although it will never reach the same size that it would in the ground. Regular epiphytes have the ability to persist through droughts, due to their inherent ability to restructure water in their foliage, while accidental epiphytes usually don’t have the same adaptation. Higher elevation epiphytes, both accidental and facultative/obligate are all able to survive for longer periods, usually due to higher humidity in the cloud layer.