Line drawing of var. konishii (Li 1975).
Cunninghamia konishii
Taiwan Cunninghamia, 台湾杉木 taiwan shanmu [Chinese], ランダイスギ koyo-zan zoku [Japanese], Sa moc, Sa mu [Vietnamese].
Synonymy: C. kawakamii Hayata 1915, Cunninghamia lanceolata var. konishii (Hayata) Fujita 1932, C. konishii subsp. houaphanensis A.D.Silba & J.A.Silva 2013.
Trees to 50 m tall and 300 cm dbh, with conical or pyramidal, dark green crowns. Bark dark gray to dark brown, or reddish brown, longitudinally fissured, cracking into irregular flakes and exposing a aromatic, yellowish or reddish inner bark. Branches whorled, spreading, pendulous at the ends. Leaves stiff, densely and spirally arranged, but spreading in 2 ranks, glossy deep green adaxially, narrowly linear-lanceolate, straight or slightly falcate, 0.8-6.5(-7) cm × 1.5-5 mm, midvein green abaxially, 0.3-1.2 mm wide, flat with median longitudinal keel throughout, stomatal bands present on both surfaces, bands on adaxial surface 0.5-1.5 mm wide, of 7-15(-20) rows of stomata, white powdery or not, bands on abaxial surface 1.2-2.8 mm apart, 0.3-0.8(-1) mm from leaf margin, not or rarely white powdery, base decurrent, margin denticulate, sometimes indistinctly so, especially on old trees, with 18-55(-90) teeth per side, apex usually symmetric and spinescent, spine 0.3-2 mm. Pollen cone fascicles terminal, 1-3(-5) together, broadly obovoid, each of 8-20 cones, occasionally a few also around base of seed cone; peduncle 2-4 mm; cones narrowly oblong-conical. Seed cones terminal, 1-4 together, at pollination shortly cylindric-ovoid, ca. 12 × 8 mm, green, later turning brown-reddish and becoming ovoid or subglobose, 1.8-3 × 1.2-2.5 cm; bracts coriaceous, glaucous or glossy, broadly ovate or triangular-ovate, base with short claw 1/5-1/2 × total length of bract, distal part gradually narrowed toward pointed apex, 1/14-1/5 × total length of bract. Seeds 3 per scale, dark brown, oblong or narrowly ovate, 5-6 × ca. 4 mm, narrowly winged laterally. Pollination Jan-May, seed maturity Aug-Nov, cotyledons 2 (Li 1975, Walker 1976, FIPI 1996, Wu and Raven 1999).
"A very variable species: specimens occur with spinescent or obtuse leaf apices and with or without white stomatal bands on the adaxial leaf surface. The latter character is at least partly dependent on the age of the tree and the position of the leaf on the tree: leaves exposed to sunlight have less conspicuous adaxial stomatal bands than those in shade, as do leaves of old trees. Variants also occur with strongly glaucous leaves" (Wu and Raven 1999).
China: Fujian; Laos; Taiwan; Vietnam. Occurs in mixed broad-leaved forests or forms small pure stands, frequently associated with Chamaecyparis formosensis and C. obtusa var. formosana, often planted, at 1300-2000 m elevation (Wu and Raven 1999, Averyanov et al. 2014).
Hardy to Zone 9 (cold hardiness limit between -6.6°C and -1.1°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001).
No data as of 2023.03.03.
The wood is pale yellow to white, density 0.4-0.5, soft but durable, easily worked, and resistant to insects and termites. It is used in house-building, for furniture, floor, panels, packaging, and coffins. It is suitable for reforestation and planting along the roads of mountainous provinces, in subtropical evergreen, coniferous and mixed broad-leaved forests (FIPI 1996).
N Laos (Houa phan province) has one location, in a small pure stand of montane forest.
In Vietnam, specimens have only been collected at Bu Huong mountain (Nghe An prov.), in dense subtropical forest, mixed with Chamaecyparis hodginsii, Dacrydium elatum, and Quercus bambusaefolia (FIPI 1996).
For Taiwan, the HAST database (1999) reports the following collections:
Miaoli Xian: Kuanwu. Specimens collected from cultivated trees. Elev 2000 m.
Xinchu Xian: Wufeng Hsiang: Shihlu Village. Secondary broadleaf forest. 121°19'15"E, 24°05'52"N. Elevation 1485-1565 m. At edge of Cryptomeria plantation. Tree ca. 2 m tall; cones immature, green.
Ilan Xian: Tatung Xiang: Chilanshan. near the river valley by 170 forest Rd. 1/2 K. Elevation 1800 m. In Cunninghamia konishii cut over forest. Tree ca. 70 cm dbh.
The epithet honors N. Konishi, who collected the type specimen.
Averyanov, L. V., T. H. Nguyen, K. N. Sinh, T. V. Pham, V. Lamxay, S. Bounphanmy, S. Lorphengsy, L. K. Phan, S. Lanorsavanh, and K. Chantthavongsa. 2014. Gymnosperms of Laos. Nordic Journal of Botany 32(6):765–805.
Brown, R. 1866. The Miscellaneous Botanical Works of Robert Brown (etc.)., V. 1. London: The Ray Society (p. 479). Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2013.01.10.
Eisenberg, Amy, John Amato, and Dengtao. 2009. Kam Guilzhouh nyim Guangxxih di Benxtux Wenchual nyim Zihyuanc dih Gonxliix: Kam Local Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainable Resource Management in Guizhou and Guangxi Provinces, China. Ethnobotany Research & Applications 7:67-113.
Hayata, Bunzo. 1908. On some new species of coniferae from the island of Formosa. Journal of the Linnaean Societ. Botany 38:297-299, pl. 23. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2020.05.20.
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.
Li, M. and Ritchie, G.A. 1999a. Eight hundred years of clonal forestry in China: I. traditional afforestation with Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook.). New Forests 18:131-142.
Li, M. and Ritchie, G.A. 1999b. Eight hundred years of clonal forestry in China: II. Mass production of rooted cuttings of Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook.). New Forests 18:143-159.
Elwes and Henry 1906-1913 at the Biodiversity Heritage Library (as Cunninghamia sinensis). This series of volumes, privately printed, provides some of the most engaging descriptions of conifers ever published. Although they only treat species cultivated in the U.K. and Ireland, and the taxonomy is a bit dated, still these accounts are thorough, treating such topics as species description, range, varieties, exceptionally old or tall specimens, remarkable trees, and cultivation. Despite being over a century old, they are generally accurate, and are illustrated with some remarkable photographs and lithographs.
Hiep et al. 2004 (as C. konishii).
Huang 1994 (the Flora of Taiwan; as C. konishii).
Lu SY, Peng CI, Cheng-YP, Hong KH, Chiang TY. 2001. Chloroplast DNA phylogeography of Cunninghamia konishii (Taxodiaceae), an endemic conifer of Taiwan. Genome 44:797-807.
Luu and Thomas 2004, who treat var. konishii as a species, provides a more current description, range map, conservation status, drawings and photos, and a wealth of additional information on it.
Mueller-Starck, G. and Liu Y.Q. 1988. Genetics of Cunninghamia lanceolata Hook: 1. Genetic analysis. Silvae Genetica 37(5-6):236-243.
Mueller-Starck, G. and Liu Y.Q. 1989. Genetics of Cunninghamia lanceolata Hook. 2. Genetic variation within and between two provenance samples. Silvae Genetica 38(5-6):172-177.
Threatened Conifers of the World.
Yeh F.C., Shi J., Yang R., Hong J. and Ye Z. 1994. Genetic diversity and multilocus associations in Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook from the People's Republic of China. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 88(3-4):465-471.
Last Modified 2023-03-03
Back to top