Cephalotaxus koreana

Nakai 1930

Common names

Korean plum yew (Tripp 1995).

Taxonomic notes

The molecular analysis of Hao et al. (2008) showed that the clade C. harringtonia - C. koreana - C. wilsoniana is monophyletic, and that the latter two species could be treated as varieties of C. harringtonia.

Description

An upright, slow-growing shrub to 3 m tall, densely branched with black-green needles ca. 5 cm long and 4 mm wide (Tripp 1995).

Distribution and Ecology

Japan: Honshu, Hokkaido; North and South Korea; NE China; at low to middle elevations; USDA Zone 6, perhaps Zone 5 (Tripp 1995, Farjon 1998).

Big tree

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

Endangered by extensive clearcutting in Korea (Yinger 1989).

Citations

Yinger, Barry. 1989. Notes on Cephalotaxus, the plum yew. Bull. American Conifer Society 6(3):57-59.

Nakai 1930, Bot. Mag. Tokyo 44:508.

See also