Keteleeria evelyniana Mast. - PINACEAE

Synonym : Keteleeria roulettii Flous

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Botanical descriptions Habitat and ecology Distribution

Botanical descriptions :

Diagnostic characters : Evergreen conifer, bark scaly. Exudate resinous, orange-red, aromatic. Leaves linear in flattened sprays. Female cones long, upright. Seeds winged.
Habit : Large Gymnosperm evergreen tree, up to 25 m. tall, about 80 cm. in DBH (or more). Upright single stemmed tree.
Trunk & bark : Trunk with greyish-brown scales, outer bark thin about 1 mm. thick, brown, inner bark orange-red about 1 cm. thick; sapwood pale yellow. Young tree has thin scaly bark, in the old tree it becomes rough and scaly or flaky.
Branches and branchlets or twigs : Irregular branches, young twigs yellow-brown; in the old tree they have long cones stand upwards.
Exudates : Reddish-orange resin and scented.
Leaves : Needles like, alternate, arranged at the tip of branchlet, pointing toward the terminal shoots, flattened into two rows, linear or falcate, at about 0.2-0.5 x 3-7 cm. in size, apex acute, base acute, margin entire, young leaves light green, blade glabrous. Two ranges of stomata on the lower surface visible by magnifying glass.
Inflorescences or flowers : The female cone upright, cylindrical, terminal on short lateral branches in the upper part of tree, about 9-20 cm. long and 4-7 cm. in diameter, the male appear in cluster from a single lateral bud.
Fruits : Cone green when young and brown when old then turning black.
Seeds : Numerous brown winged seeds inside cones. About 0.6 cm. long, resinous when crushed.

Habitat and ecology :

Found as an emergent tree with a very broad crown along ridges in closed evergreen forest from 500 to 900 m altitude. Often in small groups of 3-5 trees. Also occurs in Pine forests in central and northern Laos - in these areas its altitudinal range may extend to 1200 m.

Distribution :

China, Vietnam and Laos. .

Remark/notes/uses :
Resin harvesting, construction, furniture, firewood.

Specimens studied :
BT 136 and BT 327 (Herbarium of Faculty of Sciences-NUoL, NHN-Leiden and CIRAD-Montpellier).

Literature :
Dung, Vu Van. 1996. Vietnam Forest Trees. Agriculture Publishing House, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Lehmann L., M. Greijmans and D. Shenman. 2003. Forests and trees of the central highlands of Xieng Khouang Lao PDR, A field guide. Lao Tree Seed Project, Vientiane, Laos.
Nguyen Tien Hiep, Pan Ke Loc, Nguyen Duc To Luu, P.I. Thomas, A. Farjon, L. Averyanov & J. Regalado Jr. 2004. Vietnam Conifers: Conservation Status Review 2004. Fauna & Flora International, Vietnam Programme, Hanoi.

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