Scientific name: Keteleeria evelyniana M.T.Masters 1903

Synonyms: Keteleeria davidiana subsp. evelyniana (Mast.) Eckenw., Keteleeria delavayi Tiegh., Keteleeria dopiana Flous, Keteleeria hainanensis Chun & Tsiang, Keteleeria roulletii (A.Chev.) Flous, Tsuga roulletii A.Chev.

Common names:Evelyn keteleeria, Fortune's keteleeria, Yunnan Youshan (Chinese), Du sam (Vietnamese)

Description

Tree to 25(-40) m tall, with trunk to 1.5(-2.5) m in diameter. Bark dark grayish brown, scaly, furrowed. Crown regular in youth, breaking up and broadening with age, with heavy, rising or horizontal branches bearing horizontal, or rarely dangling, side branches. Young shoots yellowish gray to reddish brown, often orange-brown, rarely greenish brown, often hairy at first, sometimes densely and persistently rusty-haired. Buds 3-6 mm long, plump, not resinous. Needles dark green or sometimes a little paler with wax, (2-)4-8 cm long, the tip with a short point. Pollen cones in clusters of three to eight, 10-15 mm long, yellowish brown. Seed cones (7-)9-20(-25) cm long, (3.5-)4-6.5 cm across, green or waxy bluish green before maturity, ripening reddish brown. Seed scales with the edges curved inward above the widest point. Seed body wedge-shaped, 9-14 mm long, the wing 10-15 mm longer, broadest below the middle.

Laos, Vietnam, and southwestern China, in Hainan, Yunnan, and adjacent Sichuan and Guizhou; 700-2,000(2,700) m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Vulnerable

(The assessment of this species in China and Viet Nam were very similar and both concluded on Vulnerable following past decline. The situation in Lao PDR is less well known, but there is likely to have been a similar decline. The area of occupancy is estimated to be less than 2,000 km2 but more than 500 km2. There is a continuing decline in many parts of its range and the population is considered severely fragmented. Hence an assessment of Vulnerable under the A and B criteria is warranted)

References

Farjon, A. (2010). A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden.

Eckenwalder, J.E. (2009) Conifers of the World: The Complete Reference. Timber Press, Portland.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Cambridge, UK /Gland, Switzerland