Platycladus orientalis description

Distribution (2).

Platycladus orientalis (Linnaeus) Franco 1949

Common Names

Chinese or oriental arborvitae.

Taxonomic notes

Syn: Biota orientalis (Linnaeus) Endlicher; Thuja orientalis Linnaeus (1). It is the sole species in the genus Platycladus Spach 1842.

Description

Range

China: Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Shandong , Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang. Korea. Elevational range in China - 250-3300 m (2). Also reported Burma, Japan (1). Naturalized in Florida (3).

Big Tree

One in Nasreddinabad, Tajikistan, is 35 m high and 14 m dbh (4).

Oldest

Ages of some cultivated trees in the Beijing (China) area are said to exceed 1000 years (5).

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

"It is common tree of China, and some relic populations exist in Central Asia (it is often said that they are all along The Great Silk Road and aren't natural, but there are also some very old trees in remote mountain areas" (4).

Citations

(1) Silba 1986.

(2) Missouri Botanical Garden TROPICOS database (includes range map).
(3) Little 1980 (as Thuja o.).
(4) Vladimir Dinets, e-mail communication, 10 January 1998.
(5) Silba, Hohn. 1996. Noteworthy conifers in the Xian Shan region of Beijing, China. American Conifer Society Bulletin 13(1):8-12.