Glyptostrobus pensilis is a genus of plants in the family Pinus firaceae, a single species of plants distributed only in China.
As the name suggests, water pine is a pine tree that grows near the water, and is also known as water lotus, water emperor pine, Metasequoia pine, water machine and so on. The Latin scientific name for the genus Is of Greek origin, Glyptos means carving; strobus refers to cones, meaning the spondyloides with their scales with puddles, patterns, and the tip of the bracts, as if carved, and Pensilis means overhanging.
< h3 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > biological characteristics</h3>
Pinus is a semi-evergreen tree, 25 meters tall and with a base diameter of 60 to 120 cm: the base of the trunk that grows in wet swamps is often expanded into a column groove, the column groove is 70 to 80 cm high, and there are knee-like breathing roots protruding from the soil or water surface. The leaves on the branches are scaly and spiral-shaped; the leaves on the branches are drilled or linear, unfolded or diagonally into 2 to 3 columns, with edges or flattened. Flower unisexual, female and male bulb flowers are solitary branches, male bulb flowers have 15 to 20 spiral stamens; female bulb flowers have 15 to 20 bead scales with 2 ovules, supported by larger bract scales. The cones are upright and inverted ovoid. Seeds are oval, brown, slightly flattened, 5 to 7 mm long, and pterophyllum, 4 to 7 mm long. Bulbous flowers bloom from February to March, and the fruit ripening period is from September to October.
Water pine grows mostly in low altitude areas, is a strong positive water-tolerant wet tree species, in the warm and humid plains of South Asia, mainly along the riverbank, swamp or paddy field edge distribution. The richer the heat, the more favorable it is to the growth of water pine, but the extreme sustained high temperature also damages the growth of water pine, and the lack of water pine distribution on Hainan Island may be related to the high summer temperature in the area. Water pine is also not tolerant to low temperatures and is susceptible to frost damage.
It is a shallow-rooted tree species, the main root is developed at a young age, the main root stops growing after 10 years, the lateral root extends to all sides, the base expands in a column groove, usually protruding from the direction of the back water, and the respiratory root is exposed to the surface or water surface to improve ventilation conditions. Hydrodynamics is the main route of transmission of pinus hydrosperm. This is also the reason why there are more water pines on both sides of the river.
<h3 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > ancient fossil plant</h3>
Isotopic age determination of pinus plant fossils is based: it has existed as early as the Early Jurassic or Triassic (220 million years ago); from the Cretaceous to the Cenozoic Pliocene (2 million years ago) has had a wide distribution; in the Tertiary Period, not only many species (at least 5 to 6 species), but also unusually luxuriant, widespread in the northern hemisphere, forming three distribution centers in North America, Europe and East Asia. In North America, the footprint of Pinus tabulaeformis once reached southern Alaska (62nd north latitude. )。
Researchers have found abundant fossils of water pine in the Tertiary Strata of Europe. In the late Tertiary Period, especially after the Quaternary Ice Age, the temperature dropped, the distribution area of Water Pine shrank violently and moved southward, and finally became extinct in North America and Europe, and only parts of the south of the Yangtze River Basin and Vietnam, which were less affected by the glacial period, were preserved and became relics. The extant water pine is the remnant distribution area of this species in East Asia.
At present, there is only one species of Pinus spp., which is distributed in the areas south of the Yangtze River such as 13 ° 09 ′ (Vietnam) ~ 37 ° 33 ′ (Yantai, Shandong) and 102 ° 42 ′ (Kunming, Yunnan) ~ 121 ° 31 ′ (Taipei, China) at an altitude of 32 to 1980 meters, and is distributed in Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Hunan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Yunnan and Taiwan in China, and is distributed in the alluvial plains of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong and Fujian Province, which is a sporadic block distribution.
<h3 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > "old life star" in water pine</h3>
The cultivation history of water pine in China is relatively long. There are many remnants of ancient pine trees in various places:
In Funing County, Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan Province, there is a large tree of more than 500 years of water pine, with a height of more than 30 meters and a chest diameter of 130 centimeters, which is the largest ancient tree of this species.
Under the Jiulong Spring of Nanhua Temple in Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province, there are five ancient water pines, with an average height of 35.6 meters and a crown width of 8.6 square meters. The largest of these plants has a chest diameter of 120 cm and a height of 40.6 m. The tree is said to have been planted by the high monk Dantian when the Six Ancestral Temple was built in the Ming Dynasty, and the tree is more than 600 years old, which can be called the "old life star" of the Water Pine Tribe. These ancient water pines of Nanhua Temple have attracted many Chinese and foreign experts, scholars and tourists to visit.
There are 6 ancient water pine trees in Qinghu Township, Yiyang County, Jiangxi Province, the largest of which has a bust circumference of 7 meters, due to its age, the trunk is hollow, and it was broken by a strong wind in the 1950s, and a young tree with a height of 12 meters was sprouted in the broken cadre position.
In Aijia Village, Zhongtong Township, Yujiang County, Jiangxi Province, 11 ancient water pines, chest circumference of 3 to 4.35 meters, height of 20 to 22 meters, each plant has expanded columnar groove tumor hyperplasia, the largest plant has 13 tumors, the largest tumor diameter of 10 meters. This water pine stretches out a knee-bending breathing root along the surface of the water, and it is staggered, resembling a rockery, which is very peculiar. According to the genealogy of the Ai surname, the family has been migrating for 38 generations, and the water pine has existed before the migration. According to this inference, these trees are relics of the Tang Dynasty, and they are all relics of a thousand years.
In some places, the growth characteristics of water pine have also been given many cultural connotations. In Liuxin Village, Jiangcheng Town, Pubei County, Guangxi, a pair of ancient water pines grow, with trees 12 meters high. The thoracic diameter is 83 cm and 74 cm respectively, and the tree is more than 400 years old. The two pine roots are connected and grow side by side, and the branches hug each other, like a pair of twin brothers. According to legend, this tree was planted by the Song family of the village, and its intention is that if someone in the Song family is lifted, hang a bunting flag on the tree, beat a gong and drum, and gather under the tree to celebrate, so people call these two water pines "Zhuangyuan pine". After the founding of New China, some people in the village were admitted to college, and the villagers also had to send him off under the big tree, so as to motivate the young people in the village to study diligently and get ahead.
<h3 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > endangered cause</h3>
Water pine is a unique single species of Chinese monolithic relics, "living fossils", precious tree species, after the Tertiary Ice Age, there is only one species left, for the study of Fir phylogeny, paleobotany and the formation and evolution of species, species resources have great scientific significance.
Water pine is a fast-growing tree species, in good conditions, 15 to 20 years can become timber. Its root system is well developed and can be used as a revetment tree species for windproof embankments.
Itself and human factors have contributed to the endangerment of Pinus tabula: after geological changes and concomitant climate change, Pinus tabula can still survive to this day, but it is now a remnant of decline. The distribution pattern of Pinus tabula is incoherent, the available resources are extremely scarce, and the habitat is very fragile. The survey confirmed that there is no wild population of water pine in China, and most of the water pine distribution areas have only a few isolated trees.
Water pine has stricter requirements for habitat, seeds cannot germinate and grow on wet soil; seedlings cannot grow in water for a long time, afraid of frost; adult trees are susceptible to frost damage, not tolerant of dirty air, especially sulfur-containing gases; cones are susceptible to insect infestation, which seriously affects the fruit setting rate. Various factors make it difficult to naturally renew water pine.
The main cause is vandalism. The main production area of water pine is located in the densely populated and convenient transportation of the Pearl River Delta and the lower reaches of the Minjiang River, with a relatively developed economy and serious human impact. Hong Kong originally had a distribution of water pines, which have now disappeared. In the peat soil layer at the foot of Baiyun Mountain in Guangzhou and near South China Agricultural University, a large number of water pine dry bases and roots are found, crisscrossing like dense forests. This indicates that in the past, the distribution of water pine in this area was very common, but due to the destruction of logging and the continuous construction of roads, the soil conditions on which water pine depended for their survival were affected, resulting in the loosened soil becoming hardened, so that the water and oxygen required for seed germination were not adequately supplied, and the distribution area was greatly reduced and reduced. The fragmentation of the habitat makes the water pine only remain in patches of different sizes, which eventually leads to a different growth environment from the original habitat, resulting in difficulties in plant spread and migration.
Water pine is listed as a national first-class protected wild plant. According to the Threatened Plant Hierarchy published by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) in 1994 and adopted internationally, Pinus tabulaeum is determined to be extinct in the wild and classified as a critically endangered species.