Pinus armandii
Pine forest with Armand Pine in Diancang Shan
Armand Pine (Pinus armandii ) is a large evergreen coniferous tree of the genus pine (Pinus ) with five of us, rarely up to seventh- growing, usually 8 to 14 inches long needles. The seed cones also reach a length 8-14 centimeters. The natural range is located in China, Taiwan and northern Myanmar. There are usually three varieties which one of these is described as a separate species. Other authors expect two more species as varieties of the species. Armand Pine is classified as endangered in the IUCN Red List. The wood is rarely used, however, the species is in China a popular ornamental plant.
- 5.1 Literature
- 5.2 Notes and references
Description
Appearance
Armand Pine grows as an evergreen tree reaching a height of 30 to 35 meters. The strain reaches a diameter at breast height of up to 100 centimeters. The Stammborke is gray or purplish gray, initially smooth and breaks in older trees in large, more or less rectangular plates. The branches of young trees grow in Scheinwirteln and form a conical crown, with older trees, it widens into a round and open crown. The needled branches are smooth. Young shoots are glabrous, at first green, gray-green or gray-brown, and sometimes blue green frosting. They stain brown later.
Buds and needles
The vegetative buds are cylindrical and slightly resinous. Terminal buds are 10 to 15 millimeters long, which are smaller and more ovate seitständigen. The needles usually grow to five, rarely six or seven in an early- sloping, 2-7 mm long, basal needle sheath of delicate scales. The needles are dark green, spreading or drooping, thin and flexible, curved with a thickening at the base and often near the base. They are sometimes usually 8 to 14 inches long and 1.0 to 1.5 millimeters wide with a triangular cross section from 5. Only the two adaxial sides show thin gap opening lines. There are usually formed three, rarely two or up to seven resin canals. The needles remain two to three years on the tree.
Cones and seeds
The pollen cones grow spirally arranged in elongated groups at the base of young shoots. They are greenish-white with a reddish tip, cylindrical to ovoid - ellipsoid, usually 1.5 to 2.5 rarely to 3 inches long, thin or thick.
The seed cones grow singly or in pairs. They are initially green and stand erect, later they grow more or less hanging on strong, 2 to 3 inches long, curved, sturdy stems. The cones are often resinous, conical- cylindrical and 8 to 14 inches long. You have opened a diameter 5-8 cm and then color in different shades of brown. The 70 to 100 seed scales are woody and stiff, 3 to 4 inches long, 2.5 to 3.0 inches wide and with the exception of standing near the spigot base shed bent slightly inward. They have two recesses, which contain the seeds at the base adaxial. The apophysis is rhombic or triangular, often thick woody, light yellowish - brown or dark reddish brown and has a straight or slightly curved edge. The umbo is at the end of the apophysis and is unimpressive and dull.
The seeds are light or dark brown to black, obovate, 10-15 mm long and 6-10 mm wide. The seeds are wingless or have a narrow ridge on the abaxial edge. Rarely has a rudimentary, 1-4 rarely to 7 millimeters long seed wing is formed.
Seed cones
Distribution, ecology and hazard
The natural range of Armand Pine is located in China in the province of Anhui, Chongqing, in the south of Gansu Province, central and north-west of Guizhou, Guangxi and Hainan, in the southwest of Henan, western Hubei, southern Shaanxi and of Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan and in the extreme southeast of the Tibet Autonomous Region, on Taiwan and in northern Myanmar. The species grows in mountains at altitudes of 900-3500 meters. The distribution area is the hardiness zone 7 attributed with mean annual minimum temperatures -17.7 to -12.3 ° C (0 ° to 10 ° Fahrenheit ). They are found rarely in pure stands, but often along with other conifers, such as representatives of fir (Abies ), the Norway spruce ( Picea ) and Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga), in southwest China and representatives of the larches ( Larix). Armand Pine is found more frequently than this species on rocky, shallow soils on which other species, for example, deciduous trees, are less competitive.
The IUCN Red List is Armand Pine, although two of the three varieties are considered at risk, classified as not at risk ( "Least Concern" ), the distribution area of the endangered varieties is small. It is unknown whether the size of the total stock is constant, the stocks may increase or decrease. Main threat is likely to be the cutting down of trees to use the wood locally. However, the wood has little economic importance, so the threat is likely to be low. Some of the stocks grow in protected areas.
Systematics and history of research
Armand Pine (Pinus armandii ) is a species of the genus pine (Pinus ), in which it is assigned to the subgenus strobus, Quinquefoliae section, sub-section strobus. The species was first described in 1884 by Adrien René Franchet Nouvelles Archives du Muséum d' Histoire Naturelle. The genus name Pinus was already used by the Romans for several pine species. The specific epithet armandii is reminiscent of the French missionary Armand David and biologist (1826-1900), who explored the flora of China and also found the type specimen.
There are three varieties:
- Pinus armandii var armandii: Young shoots are green or gray-green. The pollen cones are thick, ovoid - ellipsoid and 1.5 to 2.0 inches long. The apophysis mature cones is yellowish - brown or light brown, thick - woody, rhombic and either not bent back or just the umbo is slightly bent. The seeds are dark brown to almost black. The distribution area is located in China in the provinces of Chongqing, in the south of Gansu, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Yunnan and southeast Tibet and in Myanmar. The variety is listed by the IUCN as endangered not ( "Least Concern" ). It is widespread and in some areas very often.
- Pinus armandii var dabeshanensis ( WCCheng & YWLaw ) Silba: The needles are 5 to 14 centimeters long. The apophysis is thick woody. The seeds are light brown and show a rudimentary wings formed seeds. The natural range is located in the Chinese provinces of Anhui ( in the circles Jing Zhai and Yuexi ), Henan (in the circle Shangcheng ), and stroke ( in the circles Luotian and Yingshan ), so it is endemic in China. They are found in mountains at altitudes of 900-1400 meters, sometimes on exposed rock outcroppings. The variety is listed by the IUCN as endangered ( " Vulnerable "). She has also been performed as endangered ( " Endangered " ), since there are reports of a decline in stocks of at least 70 percent. This value could not be confirmed, but it is assumed that a decrease of at least 30 percent. The distribution area ( " extent of occurrence" ) is less than 20,000 square kilometers, divided into five highly fragmented holdings. By cutting down trees, the stocks continue to decline. The representatives of the variety in 1975 by Cheng and Law as a separate species Pinus dabeshanensis in the Acta Sinica Phytotaxonomica described. John Silba she ranked in 1990 as a variety of the species Pinus armandii to. In the Flora of China taxon 1999 var as a variety Pinus fenzeliana dabeshanensis (WC Cheng & YW Law ) LK Fu & Nan Li of the species Pinus fenzeliana attributed. Aljos Farjon retained the taxon as a variety in Pinus armandii in 2005. The thicker seed scales and rudimentary wings resemble those of developed seeds of the variety armandii, but it could also be an independently developed adaptation to the environmental conditions.
- Pinus armandii var mastersiana ( Hayata ) Hayata: Young shoots are gray-brown. The pollen cones are also grown thin, cylindrical, and 2 to 3 inches long. The apophysis is usually somewhat recurved towards the tip and brown to reddish brown in mature cones. The natural range is located in Taiwan on Ali Shan Yu Shan and on the highest mountain of Taiwan. The variety grows at altitudes of 1800 to 2800 meters in the mountains and occasionally in woodland together with the Chinese hemlock ( Tsuga chinensis) and Pinus taiwanensis with undergrowth of Acer caudatifolium, Rhododendron rubropilosum, Viburnum parvifolium and various species of holly (Ilex ). They are also found in forests of different types of false cypress (Chamaecyparis ). It is listed by the IUCN as endangered ( " Endangered "). The species is only known from three locations, spread over an area of 737 square kilometers ( " extent of occurrence" ) and being together only occupy an area of 75 square kilometers ( "area of occupancy "). The variety is on Taiwan, the only representative of the sub-section strobus, and the wood is qualitatively much better suited for carpentry and for the production of furniture, than that of other native pine species there. This led to the overexploitation of the stocks that will continue to go back. But some of the remaining sites in Yushan National Park are protected. The taxon was described in 1908 by Hayata Bunzo as a separate species Pinus mastersiana, but he turned in the same year as a variety in the species Pinus armandii. Roman Businský 1999 described the taxon as a subspecies of Pinus armandii subsp. masteriana ( Hayata ) Businsky, the name is only used as a synonym.
James E. Eckenwalder maps of two different varieties, Pinus armandii var amamiana ( G.Koidzumi ) and Pinus armandii var Hatusima fenzeliana ( Handel-Mazzetti ) Eckenwalder the species Pinus armandii to that amamiana of Aljos Farjon as separate species Pinus and Pinus fenzeliana be classified. Eckenwalder attributes this to the similarity of the locations and the similarity in the morphology of Representatives, for example, the similar construction of the seed cones and the wingless or only slightly winged seeds.
Other synonyms of the species Pinus excelsa var chinensis loud Patschke, Pinus levis Lemée & H.Lév. and Pinus scipioniformis mast ..
Use
Armand Pine has little importance as a supplier of timber. However, it is a common ornamental tree in China and was introduced in France by Armand David in 1895. Outside China, it is still rarely used in parks and gardens, but is common in arboretums around the world.