National first-class endangered rare plants: appreciation and protection of silver hazel
Mr. Hanaki
For friends who like flower bonsai, silver witch hazel is relatively unfamiliar, and the name of witch hazel may be more familiar, witch hazel is a larger family, about 140 species in 27 genera worldwide, China has 17 genera and 75 species of 16 varieties, many of which are beautiful, bright flowers, is the landscape green plant and the high-quality material for making bonsai, such as witch hazel, safflower ebony, Chinese mosquito mother, safflower lotus and so on.
Silver witch hazel is a new genus of witch hazel found in the late 1950s and named in 1992, with two and one varieties of the same genus, namely parrotiapersica and parrotiapersica 'vanessa' native to the south coast of the Caspian Sea.
As early as September 1935, Shen Jun, a botanist at Nanjing Zhongshan Botanical Garden, collected this plant specimen in the limestone mountain of Furong Temple in Yixing, Jiangsu Province, and then due to the war, the specimen was sealed in the laboratory. In 1954, when Professor Hua of the former Zhongshan Institute of Botany cleaned up the specimen, he believed that the tree species was a member of the witch hazel population, similar to the Japanese witch hazel, but could not be confirmed. In 1960, plant taxonomist Mr. Zhang Hongda named it Hamamelis virginiana in the family Witch hazel family based on the specimen, which made this major scientific discovery fall into a misunderstanding. In 1992, Professor Deng Maobin discovered 7 plants during a field trip and observed the flowering morphology and other characteristics, and finally identified it as a new species of hamamelis family: Hamamelis virginiana, and the name was finally revised to parrotiasubaequalis (Journal of Plant Taxonomy, 1998).
The discovery of silver hazel has made China the only region in the world with all the subfamilies and ethnic groups of the witch hazel family, and the silver witch hazel, like the gymnosperm ginkgo biloba and Metasequoia, is the oldest species of angiosperm, an ancient relict plant, with high scientific research value, and has important scientific research significance for the earth's environment and species evolution. In 1999, silver hazel was listed in the first batch of national rare and endangered plant species, and was given key protection, let's take a look at its morphological characteristics.
Silver witch hazel (parrotiasubaequalis), formerly known as small-leaf witch hazel, commonly known as gourd tree, wood fish tree, belongs to the witch hazel family, silver hamamelis deciduous tree. The plant can be more than 10 meters tall, the trunk is twisted, uneven, the bark is irregularly flake-like flakes; the trunk and leaves often have large hard galls; the bare buds, covered with brown villi; the single leaf is alternate; papery, broad inverted oval, the apex is blunt, the base is round, truncated or microcardial, there are blunt serrations above the middle of the edge, and there are stellate hairs on both sides and the petiole; the head-like inflorescence is axillary or apical, the flowers are small, amphoteric, the first leaves are open, no petals, the stamens have slender and drooping filaments; the capsule is nearly round, densely covered with star-like hairs. The seeds are spindle-shaped and shiny. The flowering period is from March to April, and the fruit period is from September to October.
Silver Witch Hazel Tree King
So far, silver hazel has been found in the narrow areas of Jiangsu (Yixing, Changzhou, Liyang), Anhui (Jinzhai, Jixi, Shexian), Zhejiang Anji, Henan Shangcheng and other places, with only a small number of wild plants. At present, the largest silver witch hazel plant found is located at an altitude of 653 meters at the foot of Qingliang Peak in Anhui Province, with a height of 14 meters, a bust circumference of 2.95 meters, a crown width of 8 meters, and a tree age of more than 800 years (pictured).
There are six main reasons for the endangerment of silver hazel: (1) The flowering cycle is long. Silver hazel blooms every 2 to 5 years. (2) The flowering period is short. The silver plum blossom period is only about 10 days, which affects normal pollination. (3) Male and female flowers are ripe, and pollination and fertilization are blocked. Silver hazel is a typical hermaphroditic type, and the stamens mature 5 to 9 days late, resulting in difficult pollination. (4) There are many diseases and insect pests, and silver witch hazel is commonly paralyzed, which restricts growth and flowering and fruiting. (5) Small populations are dispersed, affecting gene exchange in populations. (6) Man-made logging. Silver hazel wood is hard and fine, is a high-quality wood for making furniture, and the previous production area did not know enough about it, and there was too much artificial logging, resulting in the destruction of wild resources.
Silver witch hazel ornamental value is high: silver witch hazel tree posture is simple and elegant, the stem is vigorous and strong, the branches are luxuriant, the branches and leaves are delicate; the leaves change from green to yellow in autumn, from red to purple, which is loved; spring flowers first and then leaves, light green flowers, green after turning white, anther yellow with red, flowers first up, sagging after flowering, far away look at the tree full of golden yellow, close to the silver wisps, the ornamental effect is excellent.
Another characteristic of silver witch hazel is that the insect gall is peculiar. Its trunk and large branches are often parasitic by flat aphids, and the endangered phloem is stimulated to form a large, woody gall, plucked like a "wooden fish", which has the feathered holes of adult insects, as if it is the eyes of a wooden fish, and after drying, it knocks up and has a crisp sound. Therefore, silver hazel is also commonly known as wood fish tree and gourd tree.
Protection and illegal mining of silver hazel: Since it was named in 1992 and listed in the national level rare and endangered plant protection in 1999, although silver witch hazel is key to protection by the forestry department, the phenomenon of illegal mining and excavation is still frequent, due to scarcity and ornamentation, many people are desperate to take risks, disregarding laws and regulations, so the distribution of illegal mining has been found, causing great damage to wild resources.
Take the Internet, the author found that there are even silver witch hazel made of bonsai (pictured), these two pots of silver hazel belong to two bonsai gardens, from the growth situation, because it should not exceed 10 years, this must belong to the pirate, but the grand and dignified is made public, one is actually the president of a city bonsai association, so only allow the state official to set fire to the situation that the people are not allowed to light the lamp, it is worth reflecting.
Of course, we also expect experts and scholars to conduct scientific research on silver hazel, through artificial breeding and breeding means, expand the population, so that silver hazel into thousands of households, however, can not excavate the wild ancient witch hazel tree, but from the seedling cultivation, learn the garden maintenance and management measures of neighboring countries, rather than drying up and fishing.
(Some of the pictures originate from the Internet, if there is infringement contact to delete)
2019-1-22 Easy to flower to get wood