''Cathaya'' is a genus in the pine family,

Pinaceae The Pinaceae, or pine family, are conifer trees or shrubs, including many of the well-known conifers of commercial importance such as cedars, firs, hemlocks, larches, pines and spruces. The family is included in the order Pinales, formerly kn ...

, with one known living species, ''Cathaya argyrophylla''. ''Cathaya'' is a member of the subfamily

Laricoideae The Laricoideae are a subfamily of the Pinaceae, a Pinophyta division family. They take their name from the genus ''Larix'' ( larches), which contains inside most of the species of the group and is one of only two deciduous genera of the pines c ...

, most closely related to ''

Pseudotsuga ''Pseudotsuga'' is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Common names for species in the genus include Douglas fir, Douglas-fir, Douglas tree, Oregon pine and Bigcone spruce. '' Pseudotsuga menz ...

'' and ''

Larix Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains furt ...

''. A second species, ''C. nanchuanensis'', is now treated as a synonym, as it does not differ from ''C. argyrophylla'' in any characters. ''Cathaya'' is confined to a limited area in southern China, in the provinces of Guangxi,

Guizhou Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to the ...

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi ...

and southeast

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

. It is found on steep, narrow

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...

slopes at 950–1800 m altitude, on

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

soils. A larger population has been reduced by over-cutting before its scientific discovery and protection in 1950. The leaves are needle-like, 2.5–5 cm long, have ciliate (hairy) margins when young, and grow around the stems in a spiral pattern. The

cones A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently, though not necessarily, circular) to a point called the apex or vertex. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, or lines conn ...

are 3–5 cm long, with about 15–20 scales, each scale bearing two winged

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s. One or two botanists, unhappy with the idea of a new genus in such a familiar family, tried to shoehorn it into other existing genera, as ''Pseudotsuga argyrophylla'' and ''

Tsuga ''Tsuga'' (, from Japanese (), the name of ''Tsuga sieboldii'') is a genus of conifers in the subfamily Abietoideae of Pinaceae, the pine family. The common name hemlock is derived from a perceived similarity in the smell of its crushed foli ...

argyrophylla''. It is however very distinct from both of these genera, and these combinations are not now used. The Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia had a small living specimen. The tree died in 2017.

Fossil record

''Cathaya'' sp. fossils are described from the early

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

of southern

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

.Forest Context and Policies in Portugal: Present and Future Challenges by Fernando Reboredo – Springer, 28. aug. 2014 – They are abundant in European

brown coal Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

deposits dating from between 10–30 million years ago.

References

External links

Gymnosperm Database: ''Cathaya argyrophylla''Conifers Around the World: ''Cathaya argyrophylla''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1543178, from2=Q13565989 Laricoideae Endemic flora of China Trees of China Flora of Guangxi Flora of Guizhou Flora of Hunan Flora of Sichuan Extant Rupelian first appearances Monotypic conifer genera Vulnerable flora of Asia Rupelian genus first appearances