Keteleeria davidiana / tie jian shan

<em>Keteleeria davidiana</em>, as described in 1891 by (Bertrand) Ludwig Beissner (1843 – 1927) in <em>Handbuch der Nadelholzkunde</em> is commonly known as 铁坚油杉 (tie jian shan) in the Chinese language. [Description courtesy of Dallimore, William, Albert Bruce Jackson, and S.G. Harrison. ©1967. A handbook of Coniferae and Ginkgoaceae, 4th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press.] Description.<em> Keteleeria davidiana</em> is an evergreen coniferous tree in the <em>Pinaceae</em> family that grows to mature heights of 120 feet (40 m), resembling a silver fir when young but eventually assuming an irregular habit with massive branches and large, buttress-like roots spreading from the base of the bole. Bark is dull brown to grayish black, irregularly shaky, and somewhat scaly. Freshly-cut sapwood is pale yellowish red or pale apricot yellow. Foliar buds are rounded at the apex with numerous keeled scales, becoming reddish and conspicuous in spring. Branchlets are slender, densely covered with short, stiff, brown hairs, many of which remain until the end of the second year. Leaves on young plants linear, flat, stiff, dark shining green, up to 2.5 inches (6.4 cm long), ending in a long sharp point. Leaves on adult trees are 0.6 to 1.5 inches (15 - 40 mm) long, linear, flat, appearing 2-ranked, prominently keeled on both surfaces, entire and rounded at the apex, green above, with 2 pale green stomatal bands beneath, the apex acute to obtuse or emarginate. Seed cones are erect, ripening the first year, pale brown when mature, cylindrical, 3 to 7 inches (7.5 - 20 cm) long, 1.8 inches (4 - 5 cm) wide, on stout stalks 1.2 inches (2.5 - 3.2 cm) long. Cone scales about 1 inch (2.5 cm) long and slightly less wide, widest immediately above the claw-like stalk, narrowing to the rounded and slightly reflexed apex. Seeds are up to 0.52 inch (13 mm) long with a wing 0.5 to 0.75 inch (12 - 19 mm) long, or the same length as the scales, appearing longer when the scales expand, bright glossy brown. Distribution. This species is native to China and Taiwan, mostly restricted to mixed mesophytic forest, except in Guizhou and Taiwan, where it occurs in evergreen broad-leaved forest. In Taiwan, the "evergreen sclerophyllous broad-leaved forest ... occurs at elevations between 1,500 and 6,000 feet (500 - 2,000 m) above sea level, immediately above the rain forest of the lowland. mostly in areas with a more continental climate than the other two species. At Enshi (western Hubei, elev. 1500 ft. / 469 m) the mean annual temperature is 61º F / 16.40° C, the mean temperature of the coldest month (January) is 40º F / 4.5° C, of the warmest month (July) is 82º F 27.6° C; there are 9 months with a mean temperature above 50º F / 10° C and the growing season (frost-free days) is 275 days long. The mean annual precipitation is 55 inches (1407 mm), there is a moderate dry period during the winter months. [Farjon, Aljos. 1990. Pinaceae: drawings and descriptions of the genera Abies, Cedrus, Pseudolarix, Keteleeria, Nothotsuga, Tsuga, Cathaya, Pseudotsuga, Larix and Picea. Königstein: Koeltz Scientific Books.]
Keteleeria davidiana, as described in 1891 by (Bertrand) Ludwig Beissner (1843 – 1927) in Handbuch der Nadelholzkunde is commonly known as 铁坚油杉 (tie jian shan) in the Chinese language. [Description courtesy of Dallimore, William, Albert Bruce Jackson, and S.G. Harrison. ©1967. A handbook of Coniferae and Ginkgoaceae, 4th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press.] Description. Keteleeria davidiana is an evergreen coniferous tree in the Pinaceae family that grows to mature heights of 120 feet (40 m), resembling a silver fir when young but eventually assuming an irregular habit with massive branches and large, buttress-like roots spreading from the base of the bole. Bark is dull brown to grayish black, irregularly shaky, and somewhat scaly. Freshly-cut sapwood is pale yellowish red or pale apricot yellow. Foliar buds are rounded at the apex with numerous keeled scales, becoming reddish and conspicuous in spring. Branchlets are slender, densely covered with short, stiff, brown hairs, many of which remain until the end of the second year. Leaves on young plants linear, flat, stiff, dark shining green, up to 2.5 inches (6.4 cm long), ending in a long sharp point. Leaves on adult trees are 0.6 to 1.5 inches (15 - 40 mm) long, linear, flat, appearing 2-ranked, prominently keeled on both surfaces, entire and rounded at the apex, green above, with 2 pale green stomatal bands beneath, the apex acute to obtuse or emarginate. Seed cones are erect, ripening the first year, pale brown when mature, cylindrical, 3 to 7 inches (7.5 - 20 cm) long, 1.8 inches (4 - 5 cm) wide, on stout stalks 1.2 inches (2.5 - 3.2 cm) long. Cone scales about 1 inch (2.5 cm) long and slightly less wide, widest immediately above the claw-like stalk, narrowing to the rounded and slightly reflexed apex. Seeds are up to 0.52 inch (13 mm) long with a wing 0.5 to 0.75 inch (12 - 19 mm) long, or the same length as the scales, appearing longer when the scales expand, bright glossy brown. Distribution. This species is native to China and Taiwan, mostly restricted to mixed mesophytic forest, except in Guizhou and Taiwan, where it occurs in evergreen broad-leaved forest. In Taiwan, the "evergreen sclerophyllous broad-leaved forest ... occurs at elevations between 1,500 and 6,000 feet (500 - 2,000 m) above sea level, immediately above the rain forest of the lowland. mostly in areas with a more continental climate than the other two species. At Enshi (western Hubei, elev. 1500 ft. / 469 m) the mean annual temperature is 61º F / 16.40° C, the mean temperature of the coldest month (January) is 40º F / 4.5° C, of the warmest month (July) is 82º F 27.6° C; there are 9 months with a mean temperature above 50º F / 10° C and the growing season (frost-free days) is 275 days long. The mean annual precipitation is 55 inches (1407 mm), there is a moderate dry period during the winter months. [Farjon, Aljos. 1990. Pinaceae: drawings and descriptions of the genera Abies, Cedrus, Pseudolarix, Keteleeria, Nothotsuga, Tsuga, Cathaya, Pseudotsuga, Larix and Picea. Königstein: Koeltz Scientific Books.]
Keteleeria davidiana — foliage and cones, at Kyoto botanical garden, Japan.
Photo by Yoko Nekonomania via Wikipedia
Keteleeria davidiana at the UC Davis Arboretum, California.
Photo by http://dendrome.ucdavis.edu/
interpretative sign at The Botanical garden in Kyoto, Japan.
Photo by Dennis Groh
Keteleeria davidiana — a closeup of foliage and seed cone detail at The Botanical Garden of Kyoto, Japan.
Photo by Dennis Groh
Keteleeria davidiana — a closeup of foliage and seed cone detail at The Botanical Garden of Kyoto, Japan.
Photo by Dennis Groh
Keteleeria davidiana — a closeup of foliage and seed cone detail at The Botanical Garden of Kyoto, Japan.
Photo by Dennis Groh
Dr. Gary Knox,Gardens of the Big Bend, Quincy, Florida, standing next to one of two Keteleeria he grew from seed.
Photo by Dennis Groh
A very old Keteleeria davidiana at Shennong Sacrificial Temple, Hubei Province, China.
Photo by Chris Reynolds

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