Glyptostrobus
{{Short description|Genus of conifers}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Late Cretaceous|Recent}}
| image = Glyptostrobus pensilis 2007.06.28 10.10.35-p6280031.jpg
| image_caption = Glyptostrobus pensilis
| taxon = Glyptostrobus
| authority = Endl.{{cite web |url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?5037 |title=Glyptostrobus Endl. |work=Germplasm Resources Information Network |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |date=2007-07-17 |access-date=2009-10-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606012547/http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?5037 |archive-date=2011-06-06 |url-status=dead }}
| type_species = Glyptostrobus heterophyllus
| type_species_authority = (Brongn.) Endl.
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
}}
Glyptostrobus is a small genus of conifers in the family Cupressaceae (formerly in the family Taxodiaceae). The sole living species, Glyptostrobus pensilis, is native to subtropical southeastern China, from Fujian west to southeast Yunnan, and also very locally in northern Vietnam and Bolikhamsai province of eastern Laos near the Vietnam border.Nguyễn Đúc Tố Luu, Philip Ian Thomas, 2004. [http://www.ceh.ac.uk/sections/documents/CMenglishfull_000.pdf Conifers of Vietnam]{{Dead link|date=December 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. 94 pp. Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, NERC, UK.Leonid V. Averyanov, Ke Loc Phan, Tien Hiep Nguyen, Sinh Khang Nguyen, Tien Vinh Nguyen and Thuy Duyen Pham, 2009. Preliminary Observation of Native Glyptostrobus pensilis (Taxodiaceae) Stands in Vietnam. [http://tai2.ntu.edu.tw/taiwania/pdf/tai.2009.54.3.191.pdf Taiwania, 54(3): 191-212] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320141146/http://tai2.ntu.edu.tw/taiwania/pdf/tai.2009.54.3.191.pdf |date=2012-03-20 }}.
Fossil record
The genus formerly had a much wider range, covering most of the Northern Hemisphere, including the high Arctic in the Paleocene and Eocene. The oldest known fossils are late Cretaceous in age, found in North America. It contributed greatly to the coal swamps of the Cenozoic era. It was reduced to its current range before and during the Pleistocene ice ages.LePage, B.A. 2007. The Taxonomy and Biogeographic History of Glyptostrobus. [http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.3374/0079-032X%282007%2948%5B359%3ATTABHO%5D2.0.CO%3B2 Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, 48(2): 359-426]. {{doi|10.3374/0079-032X(2007)48[359:TTABHO]2.0.CO;2}}
Description
{{Unreferenced section|date=May 2025}}
G. pensilis is a medium-sized to large tree, reaching {{convert|30|m|ft|abbr=on}} tall and with a trunk diameter of up to {{convert|1|m|ft|abbr=on}}, possibly more. The leaves are deciduous, spirally arranged but twisted at the base to lie in two horizontal ranks, {{convert|5|-|20|mm|in|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|1|-|2|mm|in|abbr=on}} broad, but {{convert|2|-|3|mm|in|abbr=on}} long and scale-like on shoots in the upper crown. The cones are green maturing yellow-brown, pear-shaped, {{convert|2|-|3|cm|in|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|1|-|1.5|cm|in|abbr=on}} diameter, broadest near the apex. They open when mature to release the small, {{convert|5|-|20|mm|in|abbr=on}} long, winged seeds.
Habitat
Conservation
{{Unreferenced section|date=May 2025}}
The species is nearly extinct in the wild due to overcutting for its valuable decay-resistant, scented wood, but it is also fairly widely planted along the banks of rice paddies where its roots help to stabilise the banks by reducing soil erosion.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.conifers.org/cu/gl/index.htm Gymnosperm Database: Glyptostrobus]
- [http://www.pinetum.org/cones/GSpensilis.jpg Arboretum de Villardebelle: photo of cone]
{{Commons}}
{{Acrogymnospermae classification}}
{{Cupressaceae}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1073661}}