Platycladus

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Chinese arborvitae
Platycladus orientalis Simatai.jpg
Platycladus orientalis in its natural habitat in Simatai, Great Wall of China
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Gymnospermae
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Cupressales
Family: Cupressaceae
Subfamily: Cupressoideae
Genus: Platycladus
Spach
Species:
P. orientalis
Binomial name
Platycladus orientalis
Synonyms [3]

Platycladus is a monotypic genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the cypress family Cupressaceae, containing only one species, Platycladus orientalis, also known as Chinese thuja, [4] Oriental arborvitae, [5] Chinese arborvitae, biota or Oriental thuja. It is native to northeastern parts of East Asia and North Asia, [3] [6] but is also now naturalised as an introduced species in other regions of the Asian continent.

Contents

Description

A monoecious tree, it is small, slow-growing, reaching 15–20 m (49–66 ft) and 0.5 m (1 ft 8 in) trunk diameter (exceptionally to 30 m or 98 ft tall and 2 m or 6 ft 7 in diameter in very old trees). The foliage forms in flat sprays with scale-like leaves 2–4 mm (0.08–0.16 in) long, which are bright green in colour but may turn brownish or coppery orange in winter. The cones are 1.5–2.5 cm (5⁄8–1 in) long, green ripening brown in about eight months from pollination, and have 6–12 thick scales arranged in opposite pairs. The seeds are 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) long, with no wing.[ citation needed ]

The branches are relatively short, loosely arranged and, usually, sharply directed upwards, and the bark, brownish, is detached in narrow vertical strips. The twigs are compressed and are arranged in vertical planes. The leaves, arranged in four rows, fleshy, opposite, decussate, truncated, imbricated as adults, somewhat curved inwards, of uniform green color and with a resiniferous gland on the underside. The female cones, of pink-salmon color and later bluish-greenish when immature, centimetric and of annual maturation, are oval with 6-8 flattened, thick scales, coriaceous and provided with an apical hook. [7]

Taxonomy

Although generally accepted as the only member of its genus, it has been suggested that the closely related species Microbiota decussata could be included in Platycladus, but this is not widely followed. Other fairly close relatives are Juniperus and Cupressus , both of these genera being graft-compatible with Platycladus. In older texts, Platycladus was often included in Thuja , which is reflected in one of its common names, "oriental thuja". But it is only distantly related to the genus Thuja. Differences include its distinct cones, wingless seeds, and its almost scentless foliage.

Etymology

The binomial Platycladus means "with broad or flattened shoots" deriving from Greek πλατύςplatys "broad, flat, level" and κλάδοςklados "branch, shoot of a tree". [8] The qualifier orientalis refers to its native habitat in China. [9]

Distribution

It is native to northwestern China, but it is difficult to distinguish the areas where they are native safely from those where they have been introduced. It is distributed in Manchuria, Russian Far East (Amur and Khabarovsk), and now it is naturalised in Korea, Japan, India, Florida and Iran as well. It is also cultivated in many parts of the world in parks, gardens, home yards, cemeteries and for hedges. [10]

Uses


Resistant to drought, it is very often used as an ornamental tree, both in its homeland, where it is associated with long life and vitality, and very widely elsewhere in temperate climates. It is suitable for form cuts and year-round opaque hedges, but also forms impressive slender solitary trees. Several cultivars have been selected, of which 'Aurea Nana' [11] has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. [12]

The wood is used in Buddhist temples both for (lavairos) construction work, and chipped, for incense burning. Its twigs and leaves contain 0.12% essential oil containing pinene and probably caryophyllene. [13] Its use as a memorial tree dates back to the Zhou dynasty in China, where it was the official memorial tree of princes. [14]

Related Research Articles

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Cedrus, with the common English name cedar, is a genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae. They are native to the mountains of the western Himalayas and the Mediterranean region, occurring at altitudes of 1,500–3,200 m in the Himalayas and 1,000–2,200 m in the Mediterranean.

<i>Thuja</i> Genus of conifers

Thuja is a genus of coniferous tree or shrub in the Cupressaceae. There are five species in the genus, two native to North America and three native to eastern Asia. The genus is monophyletic and sister to Thujopsis. Members are commonly known as arborvitaes, thujas or cedars.

Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word cypress is derived from Old French cipres, which was imported from Latin cypressus, the latinisation of the Greek κυπάρισσος (kyparissos). Cypress trees are a large classification of conifers, encompassing the trees and shrubs from the cypress family (Cupressaceae) and many others with the word cypress in their common name. Many cypress trees have needle-like, evergreen foliage and acorn-like seed cones.

<i>Metasequoia glyptostroboides</i> Species of conifer

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cupressaceae</span> Cypress family of conifers

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<i>Thuja occidentalis</i> Species of evergreen coniferous tree

Thuja occidentalis, also known as northern white-cedar, eastern white-cedar, or arborvitae, is an evergreen coniferous tree, in the cypress family Cupressaceae, which is native to eastern Canada and much of the north-central and northeastern United States. It is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant. It is not to be confused with Juniperus virginiana.

<i>Calocedrus</i> Genus of conifer trees

Calocedrus, the incense cedar, is a genus of coniferous trees in the cypress family Cupressaceae first described as a genus in 1873. Three species are native to eastern Asia and one to western North America.

<i>Thujopsis</i> Genus of conifers

Thujopsis is a genus of conifers in the cypress family (Cupressaceae), the sole member of which is Thujopsis dolabrata. It is endemic to Japan, where it is named asunaro (あすなろ). It is similar to the closely related genus Thuja (arborvitae), differing in the broader, thicker leaves and thick cones.

<i>Cunninghamia</i> Genus of conifers

Cunninghamia is a genus of one or two living species of evergreen coniferous trees in the cypress family Cupressaceae. They are native to China, northern Vietnam and Laos, and perhaps also Cambodia. They may reach 50 m (160 ft) in height. In vernacular use, it is most often known as Cunninghamia, but is also sometimes called "China-fir". The genus name Cunninghamia honours Dr. James Cunningham, a British doctor who introduced this species into cultivation in 1702 and botanist Allan Cunningham.

<i>Juniperus chinensis</i> Species of conifer

Juniperus chinensis, the Chinese juniper is a species of plant in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to China, Myanmar, Japan, Korea and the Russian Far East. Growing 1–20 metres tall, it is a very variable coniferous evergreen tree or shrub.

<i>Chamaecyparis pisifera</i> Species of conifer

Chamaecyparis pisifera is a species of false cypress, native to central and southern Japan, on the islands of Honshū and Kyūshū.

<i>Picea orientalis</i> Species of conifer

Picea orientalis, commonly known as the Oriental spruce or Caucasian spruce, is a species of spruce native to the Caucasus and adjacent northeast Turkey.

<i>Actinostrobus</i> Genus of conifers

Actinostrobus is a genus of coniferous trees in the Cupressaceae. Common names include cypress, sandplain-cypress and cypress-pine, the last of these shared by the closely related genus Callitris.

<i>Juniperus oxycedrus</i> Species of plant

Juniperus oxycedrus, vernacularly called Cade, cade juniper, prickly juniper, prickly cedar, or sharp cedar, is a species of juniper, native across the Mediterranean region, growing on a variety of rocky sites from sea level. The specific epithet oxycedrus means "sharp cedar" and this species may have been the original cedar or cedrus of the ancient Greeks.

<i>Microbiota decussata</i> Species of plant

Microbiota is a monotypic genus of evergreen coniferous shrubs in the cypress family Cupressaceae, containing only one species, Microbiota decussata. The plant is native and endemic to a limited area of the Sikhote-Alin mountains in Primorskiy Krai in the Russian Far East. Microbiota is not to be confused with the range of microorganisms of the same name. The genus name was derived from micro-, meaning "small", + Biota, the genus name for a closely related conifer, a species formerly called Biota orientalis, now renamed Platycladus orientalis.

<i>Tetraclinis</i> Genus of conifers

Tetraclinis is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the cypress family Cupressaceae, containing only one species, Tetraclinis articulata, also known as Thuja articulata, sandarac, sandarac tree or Barbary thuja, endemic to the western Mediterranean region.

<i>Juniperus procumbens</i> Species of conifer

Juniperus procumbens is a species of shrub in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to Japan. This low-growing evergreen conifer is closely related to the Chinese juniper, Juniperus chinensis, and is sometimes treated as a variety of it, as J. chinensis var. procumbens.

<i>Juniperus squamata</i> Species of Juniper

Juniperus squamata, the flaky juniper, or Himalayan juniper is a species of coniferous shrub in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to the Himalayas and China.

<i>Thuja koraiensis</i> Species of conifer

Thuja koraiensis, also called Korean arborvitae, is a species of Thuja, native to Korea and the extreme northeast of China (Changbaishan). Its current status is poorly known; the small population in China is protected in the Changbaishan Nature Reserve, as is the small population in Soraksan Nature Reserve in northern South Korea, but most of the species' range in North Korea is unprotected and threatened by habitat loss.

<i>Athrotaxis selaginoides</i> Growth Patterns

Athrotaxis selaginoides is a species of Athrotaxis, endemic to Tasmania in Australia, where it grows at 400–1,120 m elevation. In its habitat in the mountains, snow in winter is very usual. It is often called King Billy pine or King William pine, although it is not a true pine.

References

  1. ↑ Farjon, A. (2013). "Platycladus orientalis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2013: e.T31305A2803944. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T31305A2803944.en . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. ↑ "Platycladus orientalis". Germplasm Resources Information Network . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved 2008-02-19.
  3. 1 2 "Platycladus". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  4. ↑ BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  5. ↑ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Platycladus orientalis". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  6. ↑ Fu, Liguo; Yu, Yong-fu; Adams, Robert P.; Farjon, Aljos. "Platycladus orientalis". Flora of China. Vol. 4 – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  7. ↑ Kremer BP, Trees, Editorial Blume, Barcelona, 1986, Thuja orientalis L., p. 78
  8. ↑ πλατύς, κλάδος . Liddell, Henry George ; Scott, Robert ; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
  9. ↑ Harrison, Lorraine (2012). RHS Latin for gardeners. United Kingdom: Mitchell Beazley. p. 224. ISBN   9781845337315.
  10. ↑ Armin Jagel, Veit Martin Doerken: Morphology and morphogenesis of the seed cones of the Cupressaceae - part II: Cupressoideae. Bull. CCP 4 (2), 2015, pp. 51-78
  11. ↑ "RHS Plant Selector - Platycladus orientalis 'Aurea Nana'" . Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  12. ↑ "AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 79. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  13. ↑ Armin Jagel, Thomas Stützel: Studies on the morphology and morphogenesis of the seed cones of Platycladus orientalis (L.) Franco (= Thuja orientalis L.) and Microbiota decussata Kom. (Cupressaceae) . Bot. Year syst. Bd. 123, 2001, pp. 337-404.
  14. ↑ Li, Hui-Lin (1974). The Origin and Cultivation of Shade and Ornamental Trees. Pennsylvania, United States: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 20. ISBN   0-8122-1070-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  15. ↑ Cirrus Digital: Platycladus orientalis Morton Arboretum accession 168-53#3

General references

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