Larix potaninii
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Larix potaninii |
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The Chinese larch ( Larix potaninii ) is a conifer of the larch genus . It is particularly noticeable for its cones with protruding cover scales. The range of the species is in China and Nepal.
description
Larix potaninii forms 40 to 50 meter high trees with chest height diameters of 1 to 1.5 meters. The trunk is straight or curved, the trunk bark rough and scaly, gray and dark brown in the cracks. The treetop is broadly conical or dome-shaped. The main branches are long, upright or horizontal and hanging slightly at the ends. The secondary branches are thin and drooping. The branches are thin and firm and later become long, pliable and drooping. The bark of the twigs is initially deep red-brown or yellowish orange with gray grooves, it later becomes gray and bald or hairy in the grooves. Short shoots are small and cylindrical, they are 3 to 5 millimeters long and have a diameter of 3 to 8 millimeters. The leaf buds are egg-shaped to rounded, 3 millimeters long with a diameter of 2.5 millimeters and resinous. The bud scales are obtuse triangular and dark red-brown.
Needles
About 20 to 40 needles grow densely and spirally on short shoots in false whorls. The needles are soft, 1.2 to 3.5 centimeters long and about 1 millimeter wide, narrow linear, widest above the middle with a more or less triangular cross-section. The underside is keeled, the tip blunt. The top of the needle shows several weak stomata strips , the underside two narrow stomata strips. The needles are light green and turn yellow in autumn.
Cones and seeds
The pollen cones are yellow, about 10 millimeters long and are at the ends of short shoots. The seed cones stand upright at the ends of short shoots of hanging branches. They are cylindrical or elliptical with a blunt tip. They become 3 to 5 centimeters long, rarely from 2.5 to 9 centimeters, and with open scales have a diameter of 1.5 to 2.5 centimeters, rarely up to 3.5 centimeters. Immature cones are purple with reddish scales, ripe cones are dark brown with reddish-black scales. Per cones 35 to 65, rarely up to 80 seed scales are formed on short stalks that are 9 to 13 millimeters long and 9 to 12 millimeters wide in the middle of the cones. They are smooth or furrowed and hairless. The outer area of the scales has entire or irregular teeth with a rounded or truncated tip and not curved. The cover scales are protruding, broadly tongue-shaped-lanceolate with a pointed to prickly-pointed end. They are 12 to 22 millimeters long and 4 to 5 millimeters wide, from dark red to blackish in color with a slightly lighter central rib. The seeds are triangular-ovate, somewhat flattened, 3 millimeters long and 2.5 millimeters wide, pale brown with dark spots. They form 6 to 8 millimeters long and 4 to 5 millimeters wide, obovate, brown wings with a slight red color.
Chromosome number
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 24.
Distribution and ecology
The distribution area of the Chinese larch is in Nepal and China. In China they are found in the south of Gansu and Shaanxi , in the west of Sichuan , in the northwest of Yunnan and in the east and south of Tibet . The species grows in the high mountains at altitudes of 2350 to 4300 meters on acidic soils . The climate is cold, the annual rainfall ranges from 800 to 2000 millimeters. In high altitudes it often grows in pure stands with the scaly juniper ( Juniperus squamata ) in the undergrowth. At lower altitudes, it is found together with various types of fir and spruce , with the Himalayan hemlock ( Tsuga dumosa ), the Chinese hemlock ( Tsuga chinensis ) and with representatives of the yew ( Taxus ) and head pear ( Cephalotaxus ).
In the Red List of the IUCN is Larix potaninii be deemed not at risk ( "Lower Risk / least concern"). The variety Larix potaninii var. Himalaica is classified as endangered ( vulnerable ). It is pointed out for both statements that a new check of the hazard is necessary.
Systematics and research history
The Chinese larch ( Larix potaninii ) is a species of the larch ( Larix ) genus . Farjon distinguishes four varieties:
- Larix potaninii var. Potaninii : With 3.5 to 5.5 long seed cones that reach a diameter of 1.5 to 3 centimeters when the cover scales are open. 35 to 65 seed scales are formed per cone. The distribution area is in the south of Gansu and Shaanxi, in the west of Sichuan, northwest of Yunnan and in eastern Tibet.
- Larix potaninii var. Australis A. Henry ex Hand.-Mazz. (Syn .: Larix potaninii var. Macrocarpa Y.W.Law ): With 5 to 8, rarely up to 9 centimeters long, seed cones that reach a diameter of 2.5 to 3.5 centimeters. 50 to 80 seed scales are formed per cone. The distribution area of the variety is in the southwest of Sichuan and in the northwest of Yunnan.
- Larix potaninii var. Chinensis L.K.Fu & Nan Li : With 3 to 4 millimeters in diameter and densely yellow haired short shoots. The seed cones are 2.5 to 5 centimeters long and open 1.5 to 2.8 centimeters in diameter. The underside of the seed scales is furrowed. The distribution area of the variety is in the south of Shaanxi on Taibai Shan ( Qin Ling ).
- Himalayan larch ( Larix potaninii var. Himalaica (WC Cheng & LK Fu) Farjon & Silba have with a maximum of 6.5 cm long seed cones that stachelspitzig pointed bracts:). Young twigs are yellowish orange in color. This variety is listed as a separate species in the Flora of China ( Larix himalaica W.C.Cheng & LKFu ), but the morphological differences are rather quantitative and the transitions between the varieties are fluid. In addition, the representatives also show the upright covering scales typical of Larix potaninii . The distribution area is in Nepal and Tibet. There are only certain deposits in a few valleys in the area around Mount Everest , such as in Tibet in the Chomolungma National Park .
According to the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), in addition to the varieties potaninii , chinensis and himalaica, the fourth variety is Larix potaninii var. Australis , which is distributed in Sichuan, Yunnan and Tibet. This variety is not recognized by Farjon, he counts its representatives to the variety potaninii . The Flora of China distinguishes three varieties potaninii , australis and chinensis .
The specific epithet potaninii is reminiscent of the Russian botanist Grigori Nikolajewitsch Potanin , who traveled through western China around 1880 and collected plants.
use
The Chinese larch is used as an important supplier of wood in the western mountains of China. The wood is resistant and is used as construction wood, in mining and for railway sleepers, but also for veneers and in the paper industry. It is seldom planted outside of China, although its cones with their protruding and upward-facing scales have a high ornamental value. The rind contains tannins .
proof
literature
- Aljos Farjon: A Handbook of the World's Conifers . tape 1 . Brill, Leiden-Boston 2010, ISBN 90-04-17718-3 , pp. 493-497 .
- 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 , p. 744.
Individual evidence
- ↑ German name according to Roloff et al .: Flora der Gehölze , p. 744
- ↑ a b c d Farjon: A Handbook of the World's Conifers , Volume 1, p. 493
- ↑ a b c d e f Farjon: A Handbook of the World's Conifers , Volume 1, p. 495
- ^ Tropicos. [1]
- ↑ Larix potaninii in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2011. Posted by: Conifer Specialist Group, 1998. Retrieved on 4 October 2011th
- ↑ Larix potaninii . Var himalaica in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2011. Posted by: Conifer Specialist Group, 1998. Accessed 4 October 2011.
- ↑ a b Larix potaninii. In: Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). United States Department of Agriculture, accessed August 13, 2011 .
- ↑ a b Farjon: A Handbook of the World's Conifers , Volume 1, p. 496
- ↑ Larix himalaica. In: Flora of China Vol. 4. www.eFloras.org, p. 34 , accessed on October 4, 2011 (English).
- ↑ Larix potaninii var. Australis. In: Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). United States Department of Agriculture, accessed October 4, 2011 .
- ↑ a b Larix potaninii. In: Flora of China Vol. 4. www.eFloras.org, p. 34 , accessed on August 13, 2011 (English).
Web links
- Christopher J. Earle: Larix potaninii. In: The Gymnosperm Database. Retrieved October 6, 2011 .