A casual alien plant new to Mediterranean Europe: &lt;em&gt;Ceiba speciosa&lt;/em&gt; (Malvaceae) in the suburban area of Palermo (NW Sicily, Italy)

Salvatore Pasta,Emilio Badalamenti,Tommaso La Mantia

doi:10.3989/ajbm.2387

Abstract

Pasta, S., La Mantia, T. & Badalamenti, E. 2014. A casual alien plant new to Mediterranean Europe: Ceiba speciosa (Malvaceae) in the suburban area of Palermo (NW Sicily, Italy). Anales Jard. Bot. Madrid 71(2): e010. The abiotic and biotic characteristics of the first sites where floss silk tree behaves as a casual alien plant in the Mediterranean Europe are described. The species was probably first planted in botanical gardens of southern France few decades before mid XIX century. It was introduced in Palermo in 1896, a city which appears to match very well its climatic requirements. According to the available information on its biology and ecology in both its original and secondary range, the floss silk tree should not become an invasive alien plant in the Mediterranean. Nevertheless, several gaps need to be filled in order to increase our understanding of future trends of Ceiba speciosa in southern Europe, in particular, the eventual role of pollinators and seed dispersers outside the species’ natural range.

Highlights

The city of Palermo has been the place of first introduction and/or first naturalization of at least 30 of the 450 alien plants which may be considered as casual, naturalized or invasive in Sicily
Special attention was paid to international, national and local botanical and horticultural texts with any reference to the basyonym Chorisia speciosa in order to reconstruct the history of its introduction in Europe, Italy and Sicily
We looked at the biology and ecology of floss silk tree within its natural range and in countries where it started to behave as a casual alien plant or a fully naturalised species

Summary

Introduction

The city of Palermo has been the place of first introduction and/or first naturalization of at least 30 of the 450 alien plants which may be considered as casual, naturalized or invasive (sensu Richardson et al, 2000) in Sicily This is the case of Nothoscordum borbonicum Kunth (Ross, 1889), Chasmanthe aethiopica (L.) N.E. Br. (Di Martino & Perrone, 1962; Schicchi, 1999), Tradescantia fluminensis Vell. (De Leo, 1967), Cenchrus setaceus (Forssk.) Morrone (Di Martino & Perrone, 1962; Pasta & al., 2010) and Melia azedarach L. (Badalamenti & al., 2013) proved to be very invasive and occupied large areas thanks to the very effective long-distance dispersal vectors and paths, such as car wheels and motorways, respectively Boerhavia coccinea Mill. (De Leo, 1967), Cenchrus setaceus (Forssk.) Morrone (Di Martino & Perrone, 1962; Pasta & al., 2010) and Melia azedarach L. (Badalamenti & al., 2013) proved to be very invasive and occupied large areas thanks to the very effective long-distance dispersal vectors and paths, such as car wheels and motorways, respectively

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Conclusion