Larix mastersiana
| Larix mastersiana | ||||||||||||
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| Larix mastersiana | ||||||||||||
| Rehder & EHWilson |
Larix mastersiana is a conifer belonging tothe larch genus . The species was not described until 1914. It is found in western Sichuan in China, where it grows at altitudes over 2000 meters. It is considered endangered due to the heavy use of wood.
description
Larix mastersiana forms 20 to 25 meter high trees with chest height diameters of up to 0.8 meters. The trunk is straight or curved, the trunk bark is irregularly furrowed or divided into gray plates. The branches are long, the upper ones ascending, the lower ones are horizontal or hanging. The secondary branches are slender and drooping, but not as strong as in Larix potaninii . The crown of free-standing trees is broad and rounded, otherwise rather conical. The branches are long, thin, drooping and yellowish or reddish brown, later gray. They are bare, only very young twigs can be somewhat hairy. The short shoots are 3 to 15 millimeters long, cylindrical and show rings of rolled scales. The leaf buds are resinous, conical or egg-shaped, 2 millimeters long and 1.5 millimeters in diameter. The bud scales are triangular, light brown and shiny.
Needles
The needles are spiraling on the short shoots, dense in false whorls from 20 to 40. They are 2 to 3 centimeters long, rarely only 1.2 or up to 3.5 centimeters and about 1 millimeter wide, narrowly linear and slightly wider to the pointed or blunt needle end. They are more or less rhombic in cross-section and are notched on both sides, especially on the needle base. The needle upper side shows no or only a few, faint stripes arranged stomata , on the bottom, they are grouped into two narrow bands. The needles are light green and turn yellow in autumn.
Cones and seeds
The yellow, stalked, 10 to 15 millimeter long pollen cones stand or hang at the ends of short shoots. The seed cones are more or less upright on 5 millimeter long stems at the ends of short shoots of hanging branches. They are ovate-cylindrical, straight or curved, and are 2.5 to 4.5 inches long, and with open scales have a diameter of 1.5 to 2.5 inches. Immature cones are greenish with orange-yellow seed scales enveloping the scales, ripe cones are light brown with dark brown scales. Old cones are dark brown with blackish scales. The approximately 30 to 40 seed scales per cone are heart-shaped to round, convexly curved, and 6 to 10 millimeters long and 7 to 12 millimeters wide in the middle of the cone. They have a smooth or slightly furrowed surface that is initially hairy and later bald. The upper part of the seed scales is entire, the base stalked or wedge-shaped. The 2 to 2.3 centimeters long cover scales are wide and lanceolate, the outer part is triangular and bent back, with frayed edges and sharply pointed. The seeds are egg-shaped to wedge-shaped, 3 millimeters long and 2 millimeters wide, yellowish brown to light brown. They have an obovate, 6 to 8 millimeter long and 4 to 5 millimeter wide light yellowish brown wing. Pollination takes place from April to May, the cones ripen in October.
Distribution and ecology
Larix mastersiana occurs naturally in China in western Sichuan in the catchment area of the Min and in the area of the Motian Ling and Jiajin Shan mountains. The species grows at altitudes of 2000 to 3500 meters on well-drained, steep slopes on Podsolian soils with a cold-temperate and humid climate.
In the Red List of the IUCN is Larix Mastersiana as endangered ( "Vulnerable") specified. Overuse due to deforestation is cited as the cause of the risk .
Systematics and research history
Larix mastersiana is a species of the larch genus ( Larix ). It was first described by Rehder and Wilson in 1914 in the American journal Plantae Wilsonianae . The Art epitheton mastersiana honors Maxwell T. Masters , an honorary botanist from the Royal Botanic Gardens , Kew , who has contributed a great deal to the study of conifers .
Larix mastersiana Rehder & EHWilson has the following synonyms: Larix griffithii var. Mastersiana (Rehder & EHWilson) Silba and Larix griffithiana var. Mastersiana (Rehder & EHWilson) Silba .
use
The wood is used as construction timber, pit timber, for railroad ties and for making furniture. The bark contains tannins . The natural stocks and especially those more easily accessible were heavily exploited. In China, Larix mastersiana is used for afforestation, outside of China the species is not cultivated, but it is rarely found in arboretums .
proof
literature
- Aljos Farjon: A Handbook of the World's Conifers . tape 1 . Brill, Leiden-Boston 2010, ISBN 90-04-17718-3 , pp. 491-492 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Farjon: A Handbook of the World's Conifers , p. 491
- ↑ a b c Farjon: A Handbook of the World's Conifers , p. 492
- ↑ Wu Zheng-yi, Peter H. Raven: Larix mastersiana . In: Flora of China . tape 4 . Missouri Botanical Garden, 1999, ISBN 978-0-915279-70-8 , pp. 34 ( online [accessed November 23, 2011]).
- ↑ Larix mastersiana in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2011. Posted by: Conifer Specialist Group, 1998. Accessed November 23, 2011th
- ↑ Larix mastersiana. In: Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). United States Department of Agriculture, accessed November 23, 2011 .
- ↑ Rafaël Govaerts (ed.): Larix. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved April 12, 2019.
Web links
- Christopher J. Earle: Larix mastersiana. In: The Gymnosperm Database. Retrieved November 23, 2011 .