The national grade II endangered plant | a rare tree species unique to Hainan in China - butterfly tree
Text: Mr. Hanaki
Modern botany is based on the "two-name method" invented by the Swedish biologist Carl von Linné (Carl von Linné) in 1753, and each plant has its own proprietary Latin, which is not confused, so that the classification of the plant kingdom is orderly. At present, there is an international standard of the International Code of Nomenclature, which is generally observed by the botanical community.
(Butterfly pod)
The naming of plants in ancient China is different, there are a variety of sources, most of which are the reflection of the rich imagination of the ancients, such as the earliest use of pictographic methods when creating words, and later named according to the morphological characteristics of plants, color and fragrance, living habits, efficacy characteristics, etc., and some are imported from abroad, then use transliteration or with "West", "Hu", "Fan", "Hai" and other words to name, and some are based on legends or mythological stories, etc., very complex.
(Golden Silk Hanging Butterfly)
Because the ancients named plants, there is no modern such rigorous scientific naming method, so many plants in different regions have different names, or many different plants are also called the same name, many are pinned on the beautiful meaning and beautiful symbolism, so "same name different plant" and "same plant different name" is very common.
(Purple butterfly flower of flat bamboo)
For example, there are many plants named after "butterflies", butterfly flowers, phalaenopsis orchids, butterfly trees, etc., of which the butterfly tree has several different species of plants, including euonymus schensianus of the genus Edophoridae, Euonymus schensianus of the genus Edmus, and Viburnum plicatum Thunb. var. tomentosum (Thunb.) Miq.), both named after the flower forms of both plants. The golden silk hanging butterfly flowers are like a hanging silk thread connecting butterflies, and the butterfly pod flowers are like butterflies spreading their wings, and the fruit is crystal clear, so it is also called butterfly play bead flower.
However, there is also a kind of flower, also named after the butterfly, but not a flower, but according to the fruit of the plant, the flowers of this plant are very small, very luxuriant, but the fruit is larger, and the seeds contain long fruit wings, looking like many butterflies resting, this plant is a rare tree species unique to Hainan in China, so it is figuratively named - butterfly tree.
Butterfly tree (scientific name: Heritiera parvifolia Merr.), also known as Gab, small-leaf Dali wood, is a mallow (Malvales), sycamore family (Sterculiaceae), silver leaf tree (Heritiera Dryand.) evergreen tree, in China is only distributed in Hainan Province, Baoting, YaXian, Ledong and other counties, in addition to the Malay Peninsula and the Philippines is also distributed.
The butterfly tree is 30 meters tall, with gray-brown bark and densely covered with small branches. The leaves are oval lanceolate, tapering at the apex, short or nearly rounded at the base, glabrous above, densely covered with silvery-white or brown scales below, and about 6 pairs of lateral veins. The conical inflorescence is axillary and densely covered with rust-colored star-like short soft hairs; the flowers are small, white, 5-6 lobed, with short stellate soft hairs on both sides, and lobed round eggs. The fruit has long wings, 4–6 cm long, the seed-containing part is only 1–2 cm long, finned fishtail, blunt at the apex, about 2 cm wide, densely covered with scales, leathery, the seed oval. Flowering period is from May to June.
There are about 35 species in the genus Silver Leaf, distributed in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Oceania. There are 3 species in China, namely the long-stemmed silver leaf tree (H. angustata), silver leaf tree (H. littoralis) and the butterfly tree (H. parvifolia), although these three belong to the same genus, but the other two fruit fruit has smaller or no fruit wings, so only the butterfly tree with long fruit wings is called a butterfly tree.
Butterfly tree is one of the tree species of tropical coast mangrove forest, is the symbol species of Hainan humid rain forest in China, the habitat requirements are very strict, has the role of indicating environmental factors, so it is quite important in the study of local botany (plant community), and at the same time has certain value in the study of flora and sycamore family in Hainan, China.
Butterfly tree wood is hard, the grain is straight, the structure is meticulous, the material is tough and hard, it does not crack or deform after drying, it is very corrosion resistant; the longitudinal section is smooth and glossy, the heartwood is large, the color is distinct, it is a corrosion-resistant industrial high-quality wood, so it is widely used in construction, shipbuilding, bridges and furniture, etc., and was previously one of the important commodity materials in Hainan, so it has a high economic value.
Butterfly trees are narrowly distributed, and because of their woody fruit and thick woody fibrous layers of fruit wings, they can float on the surface of the sea and spread to the sea to breed. However, the fruit of the butterfly tree has a high starch content, most of the seeds have been eaten by beetles when they are fully mature, and the butterfly tree has strict habitat requirements, making it more difficult to reproduce naturally. Coupled with over-logging in previous years, resources have dried up and are endangered.
In order to protect the butterfly tree, it was included in the list of "Wild Plants under National Key Protection in China (First Batch)" on August 4, 1999, and is a national level II endangered key protection. In the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN), the assessment level is Vulnerable (VU).
Butterfly tree plant tall, dense foliage, moderate crown width, is a unique species of tropical mangrove forest, with wind and sand fixation effect, in the 1980s, it was promoted and cultivated by the Chinese Academy of Forestry, but the status of wild resources is not optimistic, hoping to establish a special protected area for protection in the distribution area (Hainan Diaoluo Mountain or Qizhiling more typical area).
(Not a butterfly tree)
2020-6-20 Easy to flower wood