Cathaya
Genus of conifers From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cathaya is a genus in the pine family, Pinaceae, with one known living species, Cathaya argyrophylla.[2] In foliage and cone morphology, Cathaya has been considered a member of the subfamily Laricoideae, closely related to Pseudotsuga and Larix,[5][3] but more recent genetic studies have suggested a closer relationship to Pinus and Picea in the subfamily Pinoideae.[6][7] A second species, C. nanchuanensis, is now treated as a synonym,[8] as it does not differ from C. argyrophylla in any characters.
 | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Finnish. (January 2025) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
| Cathaya Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Gymnospermae |
| Division: | Pinophyta |
| Class: | Pinopsida |
| Order: | Pinales |
| Family: | Pinaceae |
| Subfamily: | Laricoideae |
| Genus: | Cathaya Chun & Kuang |
| Species: | C. argyrophylla |
| Binomial name | |
| Cathaya argyrophylla Chun & Kuang | |
| Species[2][3] | |
| |
| Synonyms[4] | |
| |
Cathaya is confined to a limited area in southern China, in the provinces of Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan and southeast Sichuan. It is an evergreen tree growing to 20 m (66 ft) tall and a trunk up to 60 cm (24 in) diameter, found on steep, narrow mountain slopes at 950–1,800 m (3,100–5,900 ft) altitude on limestone soils.[3] A larger population has been reduced by over-cutting before its scientific discovery and protection in 1950.
The leaves are needle-like, 2.5–5.5 cm (1.0–2.2 in) long, have ciliate (hairy) margins when young, and grow around the stems in a spiral pattern. The cones are 3–5 cm (1.2–2.0 in) long, with about 15–20 scales, each scale bearing two winged seeds.[3]
One or two botanists, unhappy with the idea of a new genus in such a familiar family, tried to shoehorn it into other existing genera, as Pseudotsuga argyrophylla and Tsuga argyrophylla.[4] It is however very distinct from both of these genera, and these combinations are not now used.
The species was introduced into Europe and North America in the 1990s.[9]
Fossil record
The extinct fossil species Cathaya loehri (Engelhardt & Kinkelin) Chun & Kuang is described from the Miocene and Pliocene of Germany and France;[3] other Cathaya fossils are known from the Miocene and Pliocene of eastern Siberia,[3] and from the early Pleistocene of southern Portugal.[10] They are abundant in European brown coal deposits dating from between 10 and 30 million years ago.[3]
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.