Scientific name: Keteleeria fortunei (A.Murray bis) Carrière 1866

Synonyms: Abies fortunei (A.Murray bis) A.Murray bis, Abies jezoensis Lindl. & Paxton, Abietia fortunei (A.Murray bis) A.H.Kent, Keteleeria cyclolepis Flous, Keteleeria oblonga W.C.Cheng & L.K.Fu, Picea fortunei A.Murray bis, Pinus fortunei (A.Murray bis) Parl., Pseudotsuga fortunei (A.Murray bis) W.R.McNab

Common names: Foothill keteleeria, Fortune keteleeria, You Shan (Chinese)

Description

Tree to 30 tall, with trunk to 1(-1.5) m in diameter. Bark yellowish brown to dark grayish brown, rough, furrowed, peeling in flakes. Crown conical and regular in youth, becoming broadly egg-shaped with age, with heavy, horizontal to steeply rising branches bearing horizontal side branches. Young shoots yellowish brown to reddish orange, variably and transiently hairy or, more commonly, hairless. Buds 3-5 mm long, egg-shaped, not resinous. Needles dark green above, 1-3(-4) cm long. Each needle with 12-20 lines of stomates in each whitish green stomatal band beneath and (none or) one or two (to five) lines on each side of the midrib above, especially near the tip. Leaf edges generally flat. Tip of adult leaves rounded. Pollen cones in clusters of three to eight, 10-15 mm long, yellowish brown. Seed cones (5-)10-20 cm long, (3.5-)5-6.5 cm in diameter, green or purplish green before maturity, ripening chocolate brown. Seed scale variable in shape and toothing around the edge, often roughly circular and broadest at or above the middle, sometimes curling back at maturity. Seed body wedge-shaped, 10-13 mm long, the wing 10-20 mm longer, broadest above the middle.

Southern China, from southern Zhejiang and Fujian west to eastern Yunnan. Scattered with a few other conifers among broad-leaved evergreens in mixed evergreen forests on slopes of hills and low mountains; 200-800(-1,400) m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Near Threatened

As was done previously by the Conifer Specialist Group and by the China Plant Specialist Group (Wang and Xie 2004) this species is assessed as Near Threatened based on general deforestation especially affecting the altitude range within which it occurs. There is insufficient information to estimate a rate of decline, and whether this is still ongoing, but it is presumably close to qualifying for listing as threatened under criterion A2cd. Conversely, as a tree capable of quick regeneration in secondary vegetation, it may be increasing in certain situations and localities. The wood of this species is used locally for construction and firewood. It is quite commonly planted in China, but rare in cultivation elsewhere. This species is present in several protected areas.

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