What kind of plant is silver fir?

Silver cedar standing known as "living fossil plants","forest pearls","giant panda plants" and so on, so what is such a precious silver cedar plant? What protected areas are there in our country?

1. What kind of plant is silver cedar?

Silver fir is a 10-20 m tall evergreen tree, gymnosperms, belonging to the pine family. In China, the distribution areas are Hunan, Chongqing, Guizhou and Guangxi, mainly growing in mountainous areas with an altitude of 940-1870 meters.

II. Detailed introduction of silver fir

The bark of silver fir is dark gray, the upper end between small branches is thicker, while the large branches spread out, the leaves are strip, more or less sickly curved or straight, the apex is round, the base gradually narrows into inconspicuous petioles, the upper dark green, is sparsely pilose, and there are dense brown short hairs along the depressed midvein.

The cones of silver fir are green before maturity, and the color gradually deepens with time. It is best to turn dark brown, representing the maturity of cones. The shape of the cone is generally oval, oblong or oblong, subround or oblate to oval.

Silver fir needs to grow under certain light conditions, generally flowering and pollination in May of each year, and cones generally mature in October.

The specific distribution areas of silver fir are Hunan: Zixing, Guidong, Lei County in the southeast and Shajiao Cave in Chengbu County in the southwest; Chongqing: Jinfoshan, Baizhi Mountain, Qingzhu Mountain and Baima Mountain in Wulong County; Guizhou: Dasha River in Daozhen County and Baizhi Mountain in Tongzi County; Guangxi: Huaping County in the north and Dayao Mountain in Jinxiu County in the east.

What protected areas are there in our country?

1. Jinfoshan Nature Reserve

Located in Nanchuan District, Chongqing, there are 1978 silver fir trees, the highest one is 16 meters high and DBH 53 cm.

2. Huaping Nature Reserve

It is a primeval forest area, with the main peak Weiqing Ridge at an altitude of 1895 meters. The annual average temperature is 12-14℃.

3. Jinxiu Silver Cedar Park

There are 10 silver fir trees in the park, mixed forest composed of many precious tree species such as South China five-needle pine and cowhide rhododendron. Among them, there is a silver fir tree with DBH of 86.9 cm, tree height of 30.65 meters, age of more than 50 years, known as the king of silver fir.