Pseudolarix amabilis

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Pseudolarix amabilis
Temporal range: 49–0  Ma
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Early Eocene to recent
Pseudolarix amabilis 2.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
(unranked): Gymnospermae
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Pinales
Family: Pinaceae
Subfamily: Abietoideae
Genus: Pseudolarix
Species:
P. amabilis
Binomial name
Pseudolarix amabilis
(N. Nelson) Rehder
Synonyms
  • Pseudolarix arnoldiiGooch
  • Pseudolarix fortuneiMayr
  • Pseudolarix kaempferiGordon
  • Pseudolarix pourtetiiFerré

Pseudolarix amabilis is a species of coniferous tree in the pine family Pinaceae. The species is commonly known as golden larch, but being more closely related to Keteleeria , Abies and Cedrus , is not a true larch (Larix). P. amabilis is native to eastern China, occurring in small areas in the mountains of southern Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei and eastern Sichuan, at altitudes of 100–1,500 m (328–4,921 ft). The earliest known occurrences are of compression fossils found in the Ypresian Allenby Formation and mummified fossils found in the Late Eocene Buchanan Lake Formation on Axel Heiberg Island. [2]

Contents

Growth

It is a deciduous coniferous tree reaching 30–40 m (98–131 ft) tall, with a broad conic crown. The shoots are dimorphic, with long shoots and short shoots similar to a larch, though the short shoots are not so markedly short, lengthening about 5 mm annually. The leaves are bright green, 3–6 cm long and 2–3 mm broad, with two glaucous stomatal bands on the underside; they turn a brilliant golden yellow before falling in the autumn, hence the common name "golden larch". The leaves are arranged spirally, widely spaced on long shoots, and in a dense whorl on the short shoots.

The cones are distinctive, superficially resembling small globe artichokes, 4–7 cm long and 4–6 cm broad, with pointed triangular scales; they mature about 7 months after pollination, when (like fir and cedar cones) they disintegrate to release the winged seeds. The male cones, as in Keteleeria, are produced in umbels of several together in one bud.

Characteristics

The golden larch is an attractive ornamental tree for parks and large garden. Unlike the true larches, it is tolerant of summer heat and humidity, growing successfully in the southeastern United States where most larches and firs do not succeed. In Europe growth is most successful in the Mediterranean region with notable specimens in northern Italy; further north in the United Kingdom it will grow, but only very slowly due to the cooler summers.

This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. [3] [4]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Abies nordmanniana</i> Species of conifer tree

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<i>Larix laricina</i> Species of larch native to Canada

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<i>Cedrus deodara</i> Species of plant

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<i>Abies grandis</i> Species of conifer tree

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<i>Abies concolor</i> Conifer (pine tree) found in North America

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<i>Magnolia sieboldii</i> Species of tree

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

Picea breweriana, known as Brewer spruce, Brewer's weeping spruce, or weeping spruce, is a species of spruce native to western North America, where it is one of the rarest on the continent. The specific epithet breweriana is in honor of the American botanist William Henry Brewer.

<i>Larix decidua</i> Species of conifer in the pine family Pinaceae

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<i>Nothotsuga</i> Genus of conifers

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<i>Keteleeria</i> Genus of conifers

Keteleeria is a genus of three species of coniferous trees in the family Pinaceae first described as a genus in 1866.

<i>Pseudolarix</i> Genus of deciduous conifers in the family Pinaceae

Pseudolarix is a genus of coniferous trees in the pine family Pinaceae containing three species, the extant Pseudolarix amabilis and the extinct species Pseudolarix japonica and Pseudolarix wehrii. Pseudolarix species are commonly known as golden larch, but are not true larches (Larix) being more closely related to Keteleeria, Abies and Cedrus. P. amabilis is native to eastern China, occurring in small areas in the mountains of southern Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei and eastern Sichuan, at altitudes of 100–1,500 m (328–4,921 ft). P. wehrii is described from fossils dating to the Early Eocene, Ypresian, of Western North America where it is found in the Eocene Okanagan Highlands Allenby and Klondike Mountain Formations. The youngest known occurrence is of mummified fossils found in the Late Eocene Buchanan Lake Formation on Axel Heiberg Island. P. japonica is known from Middle Miocene to Pliocene sediments in Japan and Miocene deposits of Korea. Fossils assigned to Pseudolarix as a genus date possibly as old as the Early Cretaceous Hauterivian stage in Mongolia.

<i>Abies amabilis</i> Species of conifer

Abies amabilis, commonly known as the Pacific silver fir, is a fir native to the Pacific Northwest of North America, occurring in the Pacific Coast Ranges and the Cascade Range from the extreme southeast of Alaska, through western British Columbia, Washington and Oregon, to the extreme northwest of California. It is also commonly referred to as the white fir, red fir, lovely fir, Amabilis fir, Cascades fir, or silver fir. It grows from sea level to 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) in the north of the range, and 1,000–2,300 m (3,300–7,500 ft) in the south of the range, always in temperate rain forest with relatively high precipitation and cool, humid summers. Common associate trees are western hemlock in northern ranges, Douglas fir in central areas, and in the extreme southern area of its range, California buckeye.

<i>Larix kaempferi</i> Species of conifer in the pine family Pinaceae

Larix kaempferi, the Japanese larch or karamatsu in Japanese, is a species of larch native to Japan, in the mountains of Chūbu and Kantō regions in central Honshū.

<i>Larix sibirica</i> Species of conifer

Larix sibirica, the Siberian larch or Russian larch, is a frost-hardy tree native to western Russia, from close to the Finnish border east to the Yenisei valley in central Siberia, where it hybridises with the Dahurian larch L. gmelinii of eastern Siberia; the hybrid is known as Larix × czekanowskii.

<i>Larix gmelinii</i> Species of conifer

Larix gmelinii, the Dahurian larch or Gmelin larch, is a species of larch native to eastern Siberia and adjacent northeastern Mongolia, northeastern China (Heilongjiang), South Korea and North Korea.

<i>Cercidiphyllum japonicum</i> Species of tree

Cercidiphyllum japonicum, known as the katsura, is a species of flowering tree in the family Cercidiphyllaceae native to China and Japan. It is sometimes called caramel tree for the light caramel smell it emits during leaf fall.

<i>Pseudolarix wehrii</i> Extinct species of conifer

Pseudolarix wehrii is an extinct species of golden larch in the pine family (Pinaceae). The species is known from early Eocene fossils of northern Washington state, United States, and southern British Columbia, Canada, along with late Eocene mummified fossils found in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada.

References

  1. Yang, Y.; Christian, T. (2013). "Pseudolarix amabilis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2013: e.T34196A2850347. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T34196A2850347.en . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. LePage, B. A.; Basinger, J. F. (1995). "Evolutionary history of the genus Pseudolarix Gordon (Pinaceae)". International Journal of Plant Sciences. 156 (6): 910–950. doi:10.1086/297313. S2CID   84724593.
  3. "Pseudolarix amabilis AGM". Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
  4. "AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 83. Retrieved 2 June 2018.