Conservation Status
Tsuga forrestii
丽江铁杉 lijiang tieshan [Chinese] (Wu and Raven (1999).
Type: China, Yunnan, Lijiang Shan, G. Forrest 17169 (holotype E). Syn.: Tsuga chinensis var. forrestii (Downie) Silba, Tsuga chinensis subsp. forrestii (Downie) A.E.Murray. Using molecular markers, Feng et al. (2021) evaluated 6 specimens from throughout the species' range and found them all quite similar. They also found that T. forrestii is sister to T. chinensis from W China; see further the discussion on the T. chinensis page. Mitochondrial markers place T. forrestii in a clade with the other two Himalayan species, T. chinensis of W China and T. dumosa, which has been attributed to incomplete lineage sorting among these taxa (Cun and Wang 2015, Feng et al. 2021).
Evergreen trees to 30 m tall and 100 cm DBH, usually with a single round trunk, often forked in the crown. Bark rough, scaly, orange-brown, becoming brown-grey and furrowed on older trees. Crown broadly conical in young trees, becoming flat-topped or irregular with age. Twigs first red-brown or pink-brown, becoming gray-brown, ridged and grooved between decurrent pulvini, pubescent but soon glabrous. Buds globular, 2-3 mm diameter, slightly resinous, brown. Leaves spreading at nearly 90° from shoot, but shortest leaves erect above shoot; 1-2.5 cm × 2 mm, narrow ovate-linear, straight or curved, flattened, weakly grooved above, stomata in two white bands with a prominent midrib below, apex obtuse or emarginate. Pollen cones 3-5 mm long. Seed cones numerous on outer branches of crown, short pedunculate or sessile, ovoid-oblong when closed, 20-30×13-20 mm, green ripening light brown. Seed scales nearly circular, 10 mm across, slightly convex, margin rounded to erose, base short-pedunculate. Bracts broad-ovate with denticulate margins, 3-4 mm long. Seeds ovoid-oblong, 3.5×2 mm, brown, with 8×4 mm transparent wings (Farjon 2010).
China: NE Guizhou (Fanjingshan), SW Sichuan, and NW Yunnan, at elevations of 2000-3500 m. Climate cold-temperate, summer-wet, with 1000-2000 mm annual precipitation; soils podzols. Grows in montane conifer forest, where it rarely or never forms pure stands; common associates include Abies spp., Picea spp., Larix potaninii, Cephalotaxus fortunei, and broadleaf trees such as Betula albosinensis and species of Acer, Sorbus, Quercus, and Magnolia (Farjon 2010, citing Wang 1961).
The conservation status warrants reassessment. Deforestation has substantially reduced the species, but it still has a substantial area of occupancy (Farjon 2010).
In 2010 the IUCN assessed T. forrestii as "Vulnerable" to extinction because of population reductions due to past timber harvest and conversion of forest to other habitat types, mainly agriculture. They cautioned that the species "could well qualify for Endangered if more information were available on the degree of population reduction" (Yang and Luscombe 2013). Reassessment is likely warranted; for instance, GBIF records only one observation of the species during the 2010-2025 period, a lower collection rate than at any previous time in the species' history.
No information as of 2025.02.19.
This species has been used mainly as a source of timber. Outside of its native range it is occasionally seen in botanical gardens and arboreta (Farjon 2010).
The species is reasonably common in temperate-zone arboreta and botanical gardens, but I have no information on its occurrence in habitat.
Named for the collector, George Forrest (1873-1932), who collected the type specimen near Lijiang in November, 1918 (Downie 1923). The collection number is Forrest 17169, which gives you some idea of how prolific a collector Forrest was in the course of his long life as a field botanist. It was also an adventurous life; here's a good story about him. He is also remembered in Abies forrestii, Pseudotsuga forrestii, and Podocarpus forrestii.
Cun, Y.-Z., and X.-Q. Wang. 2015. Phylogeography and evolution of three closely related species of Tsuga (hemlock) from subtropical eastern Asia: further insights into speciation of conifers. Journal of Biogeography 42:315–327. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.12421.
Downie, Dorothy G. 1923. Chinese species of Tsuga. Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 14:13-19. Available, accessed 2016.02.14.
Feng, Yuan-Yuan, Ting-Ting Shen, Cheng-Cheng Shao, Hong Du, Jin-Hua Ran, and Xiao-Quan Wang. 2021. Phylotranscriptomics reveals the complex evolutionary and biogeographic history of the genus Tsuga with an east Asian-North American disjunct distribution. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 157:107066. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2020.107066.
Wang, C. W. 1961. The Forests of China. Harvard University: Publications of the Maria Moors Cabot Foundation, Botanical Research 5.
Yang, Y. and D. Luscombe. 2013. Tsuga forrestii. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013: e.T32457A2819347. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T32457A2819347.en, accessed 2025.02.19.
The species account at Threatened Conifers of the World.
Photographs in Debreczy and Racz (2011).
Last Modified 2025-02-23
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