YaYa Qparung, one of the largest known trees of this species, about 2 meters diameter (the photographer's son is only 4 years old). Near Smangus, Xinchu County, northern Taiwan [Ludovic Angot, 2009].
The Xianglin Giant Tree (香林神木) at Alishan National Scenic Area in Taiwan [Peellden, 2007.03.26].
This is thought to be the largest tree ever recorded, described by Carder (1995). The photograph, from Clinton-Baker (1913), is credited to Mr. A.R. Firth.
Line drawing (Li 1975).
Chamaecyparis formosensis
Syn. Cupressus formosensis (Matsum.) A. Henry 1910. Closely allied to Ch. pisifera, from which it differs in its more oblong cones (not globose), with the scales flat or slightly protuberant, not depressed in the centre.
A tree attaining huge size in Taiwan, up to 65 m. Bark more or less red-brown. Branchlets in a horizontal plane. Shoots flattened. Leaves scale-like, shortly mucronate, triangular, upper surface green, whitish below, lateral scales of the same length as the facial ones, which have a glandular pit each; when crushed, foliage has an odour of rotting seaweed. Mature cones elliptic, 7-10(-12) mm long, 6-8(-9) mm across, composed of 10 to 14 scales with the outer surface brown, wrinkled and flat or slightly protuberant in the centre. Seeds 3 mm wide and brown, 2 on each scale (Vidakovic 1991; M.P. Frankis email 1999.02.03).
Taiwan. Mountainous regions in the north and central parts of the island at 1000-3000 m, often forming pure stands or mixed with C. obtusa var. formosana (Li 1975). Kaoxiung & Taichung Xians, 24°17' to 24°23'N by 120°58' to 121°21'E, in coniferous and broadleaf mixed forest (HAST 1999). Hardy to Zone 8 (cold hardiness limit between -12.1°C and -6.7°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001).
This largest tree recorded has diameter 582 cm, height 49.4 m, and grows on Mount Morrison (Carder 1995).
Of the 10 biggest trees in Taiwan (ca. 2010), 9 of them are Ch. formosensis. Ludovic Angot (email 2013.11.27) compiled the following list identifying them:
| DBH | Height | Name | Location |
| 656 cm | 55 m | Taiwan “juwu bashen mu” (giant god wood) | Miaoli Tai An township, Da An river nb 75 |
| 653 cm | 30 m | Lu Lin God wood, Shin Zhong | Shin Zhong Hen 88th km, Alishan 219 lin ban |
| 611 cm | 42 m | Yu huo Feng huang | taoyuan xian, Fu Xin township, Da Guan Shan 18 |
| 567 cm | 48 m | Mian yue (sleeping moon) | Between Alishan And Xitou (Nantou county) |
| 532 cm | 34 m | Guan Wu number 2 (Fog observer) | Guan Wu forest recreation park (Hsinchu, Jien Shi Township) |
| 557 cm | 35 m | Smangus giant wood | Dan Shi 89th lin ban |
| 509 cm | 36 m | Reservoir god tree | Alishan 7 lin ban number 8 |
| 446 cm | 55 m | Ling Yun (higher than cloud) god tree | Taoyuan xian, Fu Xin township, Da Guan Shan 21 |
| 433 cm | 47.1 m | Guan Wu number 1 (Fog observer) | Guan Wu forest recreation park (Hsinchu, Jien Shi Township) |
The oldest reported living tree was 818 years old (408 years of which was crossdated) in 2016, for a tree on Mt. Daxue, Taiwan, sampled as part of a dendroclimatic investigation (Liu et al. 2017).
Clinton-Baker, H. 1913. Illustrations of Conifers, Vol. 3. Privately printed: Hertford. Available at openlibrary.org.
Herbarium of the Research Center For Biodiversity, Academia Sinica, Taipei [HAST]. 1999. Database output at http://www2.sinica.edu.tw:8080/hast/eindex.html, accessed 1999.03.15, now defunct.
Liu, Y., K. M. Cobb, H. Song H, et al. 2017. Recent enhancement of central Pacific El Nino variability relative to last eight centuries. Nature Communications 8:15386.
Welch, H.J. and G. Haddow 1993. The World Checklist of Conifers.
This page co-edited with M.P. Frankis, 1999.02.
The species account at Threatened Conifers of the World.
Huang 1994 (the Flora of Taiwan).
Last Modified 2023-10-31
Back to top