Common Names

Taxonomic notes

Description

"Shrubs or trees to 20 m tall; bark orange-brown when young, turning gray-brown, thin, soon flaking; branches spreading, densely arranged; branchlets not glaucous. Facial leaves 1.5-4 × 1-1.5 mm (to 7 mm on leading branchlets), abaxial gland absent, apex obtuse; lateral leaves of ultimate branchlets slightly shorter than facial leaves, 0.8-1 mm wide, apex incurved. Pollen cones yellowish, subglobose, ca. 2.5 mm; microsporophylls 6-8, each with (2 or)3 pollen sacs. Seed cones ellipsoid, 5-7 × 3-4 mm; fertile cone scales 4. Seeds ovoid-oblong, ca. 3.5 mm; wings 0.5 mm wide, apex acute" (Fu et al. 1999).

Range

Before 1999 it had not been collected in the wild since it was discovered at 1400 m elevation in NE Sichuan (the SE Daba Shan area in Chengkou Xian) by missionary P.G. Farges, who collected it in 1892 and 1900. It was accordingly thought to be extinct in the wild (Fu et al. 1999). However, in 1999 it was rediscovered by Chinese botanists in the same region, in a 20 ha area within the Daba Mountain Nature Reserve near Chongqing. This is the only example, among the conifers, of such rediscovery of a species lost and thought extinct. The Chinese government has committed itself to protecting these trees and their habitat, which also contains many other endangered plant species (People's Daily, 15-Apr-2001)

Big Tree

Oldest

The surviving population is estimated to include trees 500 to 600 years old (People's Daily, 15-Apr-2001).

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

The spelling of the specific epithet derives from Sutchuen (French for Sichuan), plus the ending -ensis (originating from).

Citations

Frankis, M.P. Mar-2003. Series of e-mails posted to Conifers Forum.

Franchet. 1899. Journal de Botanique 13:262-263.

See Also

Farjon 2005.

Xiang Qiaoping, Farjon, Aljos, Li Zhenyu, Fu Likuo and Liu Zhengyu. 2002. Thuja sutchuenensis: a rediscovered species of the Cupressaceae. Botanical Journal of the Linnaean Society 139(3):305-310. ABSTRACT: After more than a century, the only conifer species listed as being extinct in the wild (EW) by IUCN-SSC has been rediscovered in the Dabashan Mountains of central China. The history, taxonomy, ecology and conservation of Thuja sutchuenensis are described, and illustrations, based on both the earliest and latest collection of botanical material of this tree, are provided. The taxonomic context of this rare species is discussed.