Sichuan tree of life
| Sichuan tree of life | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Thuja sutchuenensis | ||||||||||||
| Franchet |
The Sichuan arborvitae ( Thuja sutchuenensis ) is a plant that the family of the Cypress family belongs (Cupressaceae) and from Sichuan ( China comes).
description
The Sichuan tree of life is an evergreen shrub or tree that reaches heights of growth of up to 20 meters. Its bark is orange-brown, later gray-brown and thin. The branches are close together. The scaly leaves are 1.5 to 4 millimeters long, on some main branches up to 7 millimeters long and end in a blunt tip.
The Sichuan tree of life is single sexed (monoecious), so male and female cones are on one plant. The male cones are yellowish and about 2.5 millimeters in size with six to eight micro sporophylls . Each microsporophyll rarely has two, usually three pollen sacs . The female cones are egg-shaped, 5 to 7 millimeters long and 3 to 4 millimeters in diameter. The seed is about 3.5 millimeters tall with two 0.5 millimeter wide wings.
Spread and history
The Sichuan Tree of Life is only native to a small area in northeast Sichuan (this is the southeast Daba-Shan area in Chengkou Xian). The discovery and first description for the western world was made by the missionary PG Farges between 1892 and 1900. After that, it was believed for a long time that the Sichuan tree of life was extinct. It was not until 1999 that it was rediscovered in its home region by Chinese botanists, more precisely in the "Daba Mountain Nature Reserve" near Chongqing .
Origin of name
The botanical species name sutchuenensis was formed from the French word Sutchuen (for Sichuan ) and the ending -ensis (for "originating from").
swell
- Christopher J. Earle: Thuja sutchuenensis. In: The Gymnosperm Database. December 12, 2010, accessed October 28, 2011 .
Web links
- Liguo Fu, Yong-fu Yu, Robert P. Adams, Aljos Farjon: Thuja sutchuenensis . 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. 63 (English).
- Thuja sutchuenensis in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: Xiang Qiaoping et al , 2003. Accessed April 19 of 2009.