Red china birch
| Red china birch | ||||||||||||
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Chinese red birch ( Betula albosinensis ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Betula albosinensis | ||||||||||||
| Burkill |
The Red China birch ( Betula albosinensis ) or Chinese birch is a small deciduous tree from the kind of birch trees in the family of Birch Family (Betulaceae). The distribution area is in several provinces of China.
description
The red Chinese birch is a 10 to 20 m high tree with a loose, broadly conical, irregular crown, whitish pink to red-orange, mostly white frosted bark that rolls off in large, thin shreds . The shoots are initially hairy, but later bald and turn brown. The leaves are ovate to oblong, 3 to 8 cm long and 2 to 5 cm wide with a mostly rounded base, a long, pointed end and an irregular, double-sawn edge . 10 to 14 pairs of nerves are formed per leaf, which are hairy on the underside of the leaf in young leaves. The leaf stalk is 0.6 to 2 cm long, the autumn color is yellow. As female inflorescences , mostly single (rarely two or three) standing, 2 to 4 cm long, cylindrical-egg-shaped catkins are formed. The fruit scales are bare, the side lobes protruding and much shorter than the middle lobe. The fruits are egg-shaped, 2 to 3 mm large nuts with membranous wings. The species blooms from May to June, the fruits ripen from July to August.
Distribution and ecology
The distribution area is in the Chinese provinces of Gansu , Hebei , Henan , Hubei , Ningxia , Qinghai , Shaanxi , Shanxi and Sichuan . There it grows in species-poor forests and groups of trees in the temperate zone at altitudes of 1000 to 3400 m above sea level. NN on dry to fresh, acidic to slightly alkaline, sandy-humic soils in sunny locations. The species is frost hardy.
Systematics and research history
The Red China birch ( Betula albosinensis ) is a kind from the kind of birch ( Betula ) in the family of the birch family (Betulaceae). It was first described in 1899 by Isaac Henry Burkill in the Journal of the Linnean Society. Botany. London . There are two varieties :
- Betula albosinensis var. Sinensis
- Betula albosinensis var. Septentrionalis with taller growth, darker and more blunt bark, more glandular young shoots, elongated leaves and silky hairy veins on the underside of the leaf. It is more commonly used in culture than Betula albosinensis var. Sinensis .
use
The hard and dense wood with the pink to reddish brown heartwood is used for numerous purposes. The species is often used as an ornamental tree due to its remarkable autumn colors .
proof
literature
- Andreas Roloff , Andreas Bärtels: Flora of the woods. Purpose, properties and use. With a winter key from Bernd Schulz. 3rd, corrected edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2008, ISBN 978-3-8001-5614-6 , pp. 136-137.
- Wu Zheng-yi, Peter H. Raven (Ed.): Flora of China . Volume 4: Cycadaceae through Fagaceae . Science Press / Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing / St. Louis 1999, ISBN 0-915279-70-3 , pp. 309 (English).
- Schütt, Schuck, Stimm: Lexicon of tree and shrub species . Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-53-8 , pp. 66 .
Individual evidence
- ^ German name according to Schütt et al .: Lexicon of Tree and Shrub Species , p. 66
- ↑ The German name Chinese birch is given in Schütt et al .: Lexikon der Baum- und Straucharten , p. 66 and Roloff et al .: Flora der Gehölze , pp. 136-137, but can lead to confusion with Betula chinensis .
- ↑ a b c d Roloff et al .: Flora of the Woods , pp. 136–137
- ↑ a b c Liguo Fu, Nan Li, Thomas S. Elias, Robert R. Mill: Betula albosinensis . In: Wu Zheng-yi, Peter H. Raven (Ed.): Flora of China . Volume 4: Cycadaceae through Fagaceae . Science Press / Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing / St. Louis 1999, ISBN 0-915279-70-3 , pp. 309 (English).
- ↑ Betula albosinensis. In: Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). United States Department of Agriculture, accessed December 28, 2011 .
