Cephalotaxus

Japanese Kopfeibe ( Cephalotaxus harringtonia )

The head yew plum yew ( Cephalotaxus ) are the only plant genus of the family head Yews ( Cephalotaxaceae ). It contains about eleven species. Kopfeibe is the direct translation of the botanical genus name Cephalotaxus. The first head Yew specimens, there were Cephalotaxus harringtonia, sent Philipp Franz von Siebold in 1829 from Japan to Europe (Belgium ).

Description

The head yew species grow as evergreen small trees or shrubs. The needles are spirally arranged on the branch, with lateral branches, the needles can act in two lines. On the underside of leaves clearly two Stomatabänder are recognizable, each consisting of 11 to 24 stomata rows; they appear mostly white.

Cephalotaxus species are usually dioecious ( dioecious ), rarely monoecious ( monoecious ), getrenntgeschlechtig. The male flowers are on branches of the previous year to six to eight capitula together like usually on a stalk which is usually spirally covered with scales, each with a more or less egg-shaped bract. The pin-like male flowers contain 4-16 Mikrosporophylle each usually three ( often two or four) pollen sacs. The pollen dispersal is effected by wind. The female cones are on relatively long stalks at the ends of branches singly or up to six (rarely up to eight ) together. In the female cones decussate pairs are several bracts. Each Deckschuppe has two axillary, erect ovules, of which usually develops just one. Seed scales are not recognizable in them. The pollination drop is relatively large and long-lasting. They bloom in the spring and the seeds ripen in the following year ( in this they differ from the yew (Taxus ) ).

The approximately 2 -inch-long seeds are surrounded by a seed coat ( aril ). The plum -shaped aril is light brown or green and has a length of about 3 inches an oval shape.

Germination is epigeal. The seedlings have two seed leaves ( cotyledons ).

You have n = 12, with the largest sets of chromosomes within the Pinales. On ingredients flavonoids, alkaloids and tropones be mentioned, for example cephalotaxines and harringtonines.

Systematics and distribution

The head yews are limited in their distribution to Asia. Six to seven species are native to China. In addition, head yew are also represented in Korea, Japan, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia and India.

Head yew species prefer shady locations and usually grow in the undergrowth of forests. Their habitat is mainly mountain forests of temperate climate zones where they stand together with deciduous trees.

The plant family of Cephalotaxaceae used to have a much wider distribution of many species. At fossils known specimens from the Jura in Greenland, from the Miocene and Pliocene of Europe and the north-western North America.

There are eleven ( eight to twelve) Cephalotaxus species:

• Fortunes Kopfeibe ( Cephalotaxus fortunei Hook. ): The home is China and northern Myanmar at altitude 200-3700 meters. With two varieties.
• Cephalotaxus griffithii Hook. It is endemic to the mountains Mishmi in Assam.
• Cephalotaxus hainanensis HLLi: Only on the island of Hainan and Guangdong and Guangxi perhaps.
• Japanese Kopfeibe or Harringtons Kopfeibe ( Cephalotaxus harringtonia ( Knight ex J.Forbes ) K.Koch ): Nature sites are located in deciduous hardwood forests in altitudes between 600 and 1000 meters in Japan and Korea. There are about two varieties and many cultural forms, since this type is a long time in Japan and China in culture.
• Cephalotaxus koreana Nakai: The home is China and Korea.
• Cephalotaxus lanceolata KMFeng: It is endemic of northwestern Yunnan ( Gongshan Drungzu Nuzu Zizhixian above the Dulongjiang ) and northern Myanmar at altitudes of about 1900 meters.
• Cephalotaxus latifolia WCCheng & LKFu ex LKFu et al.: This species thrives in mountainous regions at altitudes 900-2400 meters in China.
• Cephalotaxus mannii Hook. It is endemic to the Khashia Mountains in India. In the Flora of China, including Cephalotaxus Cephalotaxus griffithii Hook and hainanensis HLLi. then including their dissemination.
• Cephalotaxus oliveri Masters: The home is the northern Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Guizhou, western Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi eastern, southern and western Sichuan and eastern Yunnan at altitudes 300-1800 m.
• Chinese Kopfeibe ( Cephalotaxus sinensis ( Rehder & EHWilson ) HLLi ): The home is China at altitude 600-2300 meters ( in Yunnan to 3200 meters).
• Cephalotaxus wilsoniana Hayata: This species is found at altitudes 1400-3000 meters only in the central and northern Taiwan (Formosa ).

Some species have been previously described as Taxus. The genus name Cephalotaxus 1842 by Philipp Franz von Siebold and Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini in Stephan Ladislaus Finite State: published Genera Plantarum, suppliment 2, p 27. The Cephalotaxaceae family was published in 1907 by Franz Wilhelm Negro in softwoods, 23, 30.

The scope of family Taxaceae and Cephalotaxaceae is discussed. Some authors also Amentotaxus in this family. Some authors include three genera of the family. Other authors Cephalotaxus as the sixth class at the Taxaceae so would Cephalotaxaceae just a synonym of Taxaceae.

Use

In some Cephalotaxus species, the wood is used as timber or firewood. The wood of Cephalotaxus koreana is traded worldwide.

In India, is made ​​from the seed oil, which is used medicinally. Some ingredients, were investigated with respect to their medical effects, especially anti-cancer.

The fully ripe aril of some species is eaten raw. Seeds fewer species are eaten raw or cooked. From the seeds of Cephalotaxus harringtonia var drupacea can win Lampeneöl.

Some Cephalotaxus species and their varieties are ornamental plants for parks and gardens. A striking variety is the pillar Kopfeibe ( Cephalotaxus harringtonia 'Fastigiata' )

Swell

• Christopher J. Earle: Botanical Information on the genus of yew head at The Gymnosperm Database, 2009 (English ).
• Liguo Fu, Nan Li & Robert R. Mill: Cephalotaxaceae in the Flora of China, Volume 4, pp. 85 ff: family, genus and species Chinese - Online.
• A. Bresinsky, Ch grains, JW Kadereit, G. Neuhaus, U. Sonnewald: Strasburger - Textbook of Botany, 36th edition, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg 2008, ISBN 978-3-8274-1455-7, p 840. .
• Kim E.Tripp: Cephalotaxus: the plum yews, Arnoldia, 55 (1 ), 1995, pp. 24-39: Online. (PDF, 1.2 MB)