''Davidia involucrata'', the dove-tree, handkerchief tree, pocket handkerchief tree, or ghost tree, is a medium-sized

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...

tree in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Nyssaceae Nyssaceae is a family of flowering trees sometimes included in the dogwood family (Cornaceae). Nyssaceae is composed of 37 known species in the following five genera:Averyanov, L. V. & Hiep, N. T. (2002). ''Diplopanax vietnamensis'', a New Specie ...

. It is the only living species in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

''Davidia''. It was previously included with

tupelo Tupelo , genus ''Nyssa'' , is a small genus of deciduous trees with alternate, simple leaves. It is sometimes included in the subfamily Nyssoideae of the dogwood family, Cornaceae, but is placed by other authorities in the family Nyssaceae. In ...

s in the dogwood family,

Cornaceae The Cornaceae are a cosmopolitan family of flowering plants in the order Cornales. The family contains approximately 85 species in two genera, ''Alangium'' and ''Cornus''. They are mostly trees and shrubs, which may be deciduous or evergreen, alt ...

. Fossil species are known extending into the

Upper Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', th ...

Taxonomy

''Davidia involucrata'' is the only member of its

, but there are two varieties differing slightly in their leaves, ''D. involucrata'' var. ''involucrata'', which has the leaves thinly pubescent (short-haired) on the underside, and ''D. involucrata'' var. ''vilmoriniana'', with glabrous (hairless) leaves. Some botanists treat them as distinct species, with good reason, as the two taxa have differing

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

numbers so are unable to produce fertile

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

offspring.

Description

It is a moderately fast-growing tree, growing to in height, with toothed, alternate, ovate-cordate leaves resembling those of a linden, except that they are symmetrical, and lack the lop-sided base typical of linden leaves; the leaves are mostly 10–20 cm long and 7–15 cm wide. ''Davidia involucrata'' is best known for its

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

that features large, white bracts surrounding a purplish-red flower head. The Latin specific epithet ''involucrata'' means "with a ring of bracts surrounding several flowers". The true flowers form a tight head about 1–2 cm across, each flower head with a pair of large (12–25 cm), pure white bracts at the base, performing the function of petals in attracting pollinators. The inflorescences hang in long rows beneath the horizontal branches, and appear prolifically in late spring. On a breezy day, the bracts flutter in the wind like white

dove Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

s or pinched handkerchiefs; hence the English names for this tree. The fruit is a very hard

nut Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut or Nuts may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Co ...

about 3 cm long surrounded by a green husk about 4 cm long by 3 cm wide, hanging on a 10 cm stalk. The nut contains 3–6 seeds.

Distribution and habitat

''Davidia'' ''involucrata'' is

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

to South Central and Southeast China. It grows in montane mixed forests.

History

The genus ''Davidia'' is named for Father Armand David (1826–1900; "Père David"), a French Vincentian missionary and keen naturalist who lived in China. David first described the tree in 1869 as a single tree found at over altitude, and sent dried specimens to Paris; in 1871,

Henri Baillon Henri Ernest Baillon was a French botanist and physician. He was born in Calais on 30 November 1827 and died in Paris on 19 July 1895. Baillon spent his professional life as a professor of natural history, and he published numerous works on ...

described it as a new genus and species. British plant hunter

Augustine Henry Augustine Henry (2 July 1857 – 23 March 1930) was a British-born Irish plantsman and sinologist. He is best known for sending over 15,000 dry specimens and seeds and 500 plant samples to Kew Gardens in the United Kingdom. By 1930, he was a re ...

again found a single tree, this time in the Yangtse Ichang gorges and sent the first specimen to Kew Gardens. Plant collector

Ernest Henry Wilson Ernest Henry "Chinese" Wilson (15 February 1876 – 15 October 1930), better known as E. H. Wilson, was a notable British plant collector and explorer who introduced a large range of about 2000 Asian plant species to the West; some sixty bear ...

was employed by Sir Harry Veitch to find Henry's tree but arrived to find that it had been felled for building purposes; however, he later found a grove of the trees overhanging a sheer drop. Returning to Britain, Wilson’s boat was wrecked, but he managed to save his ''Davidia'' specimens, one of which survives today in the Arnold Arboretum.

Gallery

File:Davidia2.jpg, Young tree in flower FIle:DavidiaInvolucrataTree.jpg, Form File:DavidiaInvolucrataBark.jpg, Bark File:DavidiaInvolucrataLeaf.jpg, Leaves

Fossil record

The oldest probable fossils of ''Davidia'' are

permineralized Permineralization is a process of fossilization of bones and tissues in which mineral deposits form internal casts of organisms. Carried by water, these minerals fill the spaces within organic tissue. Because of the nature of the casts, perminera ...

fruits from the

(

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campani ...

)

Horseshoe Canyon Formation The Horseshoe Canyon Formation is a stratigraphic unit of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in southwestern Alberta. It takes its name from Horseshoe Canyon, an area of badlands near Drumheller. The Horseshoe Canyon Formation is part of th ...

Dinosaur Provincial Park Dinosaur Provincial Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site situated a two hour drive east of Calgary, Alberta, Canada; or , about a half-hour drive northeast of Brooks. The park is situated in the Red Deer River valley, which is noted for its stri ...

near

Drumheller Drumheller is a town on the Red Deer River in the badlands of east-central Alberta, Canada. It is northeast of Calgary and south of Stettler. The Drumheller portion of the Red Deer River valley, often referred to as Dinosaur Valley, has a ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Those fruits are smaller than those of ''D. involucrata'' and have fewer locules, but are otherwise similar in morphology to the extant genus. In 2009, B. I. Pavlyutkin described

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

fossils in

Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai (russian: Приморский край, r=Primorsky kray, p=prʲɪˈmorskʲɪj kraj), informally known as Primorye (, ), is a federal subject (a krai) of Russia, located in the Far East region of the country and is a part of t ...

and assigned them to a new species in the genus ''Davidia''.

Cultivation

The species was introduced from China to Europe and North America in 1904, and is a popular ornamental tree in parks and larger gardens. Most trees in cultivation are var. ''vilmoriniana'', which has proved much better able to adapt to the climatic conditions in the west. This tree and the cultivated

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

''D. involucrata'' var. ''vilmoriniana'' have gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

's Award of Garden Merit.

References

External links

*Schulhof, Richard
"The Dove Tree: A Long journey West."
''Arnoldia'' 63 (4) (2005). *Sun, Ji-Fan and Shuang-Quan Huang
"White Bracts of the Dove Tree (''Davidia involucrate''): Umbrella and Pollinator Lure?"
'Arnoldia' 68 (3) (2011). {{Taxonbar, from=Q334697 Nyssaceae Endemic flora of China Trees of China Taxa named by Henri Ernest Baillon