Cathaya
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Cathaya is a genus in the pine family, Pinaceae, with one known living species, Cathaya argyrophylla.<ref name=powogen>Template:Cite POWO</ref> In foliage and cone morphology, Cathaya has been considered a member of the subfamily Laricoideae, closely related to Pseudotsuga and Larix,<ref name="Hu">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Farjon">Template:Cite book</ref> but more recent genetic studies have suggested a closer relationship to Pinus and Picea in the subfamily Pinoideae.<ref name="Yang">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Stull">Template:Cite journal</ref> A second species, C. nanchuanensis, is now treated as a synonym,<ref name=powocnan>Template:Cite POWO</ref> as it does not differ from C. argyrophylla in any characters.
DescriptionEdit
Cathaya is confined to a limited area in southern China, in the provinces of Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan and southeast Sichuan. It is an evergreen tree growing to Template:Cvt tall and a trunk up to Template:Cvt diameter, found on steep, narrow mountain slopes at Template:Cvt altitude on limestone soils.<ref name="Farjon"/> A larger population has been reduced by over-cutting before its scientific discovery and protection in 1950.
The leaves are needle-like, Template:Cvt long, have ciliate (hairy) margins when young, and grow around the stems in a spiral pattern. The cones are Template:Cvt long, with about 15–20 scales, each scale bearing two winged seeds.<ref name="Farjon"/>
One or two botanists, unhappy with the idea of a new genus in such a familiar family, tried to shoehorn it into other existing genera, as Pseudotsuga argyrophylla and Tsuga argyrophylla.<ref name=powocarg/> It is however very distinct from both of these genera, and these combinations are not now used.
The species was introduced into Europe and North America in the 1990s.<ref name="TSO">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Fossil recordEdit
The extinct fossil species Cathaya loehri (Engelhardt & Kinkelin) Chun & Kuang is described from the Miocene and Pliocene of Germany and France;<ref name="Farjon"/> other Cathaya fossils are known from the Miocene and Pliocene of eastern Siberia,<ref name="Farjon"/> and from the early Pleistocene of southern Portugal.<ref>Forest Context and Policies in Portugal: Present and Future Challenges by Fernando Reboredo – Springer, 28. aug. 2014 – Template:ISBN</ref> They are abundant in European brown coal deposits dating from between 10 and 30 million years ago.<ref name="Farjon"/>
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
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