Amentotaxus argotaenia

(Hance) Pilger 1916

Common names

穗花杉 sui hua shan; catkin yew; Chinese flowering yew.

Taxonomic notes

Two varieties, the type and brevifolia K.M. Lan et F.H. Zhang 1984 (no syn.), native to Guizhou (Farjon 1998).

Syn. for the type variety: Podocarpus argotaenia Hance 1883, Nageia argotaenia (Hance) Kuntze 1891, Cephalotaxus argotaenia (Hance) Pilger 1903, Podocarpus insignis Hemsl. 1885, Nageia insignis (Hemsl.) Kuntze 1891, Amentotaxus cathayensis H.L. Li 1952, Amentotaxus argotaenia var. cathayensis (H.L. Li) P.C. Keng 1957 (Farjon 1998).

Description

"A shrub 2-7 m. tall, with spreading branches. Branchlets light olive-green. Leaves 3-11 cm. long by 6-11 mm. wide, leathery, straight, spreading slightly forwards, with 2 white stomatal bands below nearly as broad as the marginal bands, apex bluntly acute or obtuse. Male strobili in groups of 1-3 at tips of branchlets, 5-6 cm. long, with 2-5 pollen sacs. Female cone ovoid or somewhat globose, light olive-green at first, 2-2.5 cm. long by 1.3 cm. wide. Seed to 1.3 cm. long" (Silba 1986). See García Esteban et al. (2004) for a detailed characterization of the wood anatomy.

Distribution and Ecology

China: Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, and E. Xizang (SE Tibet); Laos; Viet Nam (Farjon 1998, Averyanov et al. 2014). Although it is reported to only be hardy to Zone 9 (cold hardiness limit between -6.6°C and -1.1°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001), the distribution shown here suggests that cold tolerance likely varies considerably with provenance, with more northern/continental populations likely to show a higher tolerance.

Distribution data from GBIF (2022). A. argotaenia is red.

Remarkable Specimens

No data as of 2023.02.23.

Ethnobotany

No data as of 2023.02.23.

Observations

No data as of 2023.02.23.

Remarks

The epithet argotaenia is derived from the Greek words for "silver" and "ribbon", referring to the two stomatal bands.

Citations

Averyanov, L.V., Nguyen, T.H., Sinh, K.N., Pham, T.V., Lamxay, V., Bounphanmy, S., Lorphengsy, S., Phan, L.K., Lanorsavanh, S., and Chantthavongsa, K. 2014. Gymnosperms of Laos. Nordic Journal of Botany 32(6):765–805. doi:10.1111/njb.00498.

See also

The species account at Threatened Conifers of the World.

Lan, K.M. 1984. A new variety of Amentotaxus argotaenia. Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica 22(6): 492.

Luu and Thomas 2004 provide a recent description, range map, conservation status, drawings and photos, and a wealth of additional information.