Glyptostrobus

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.

Description

G. pensilis is a medium-sized to large tree, reaching 30 m tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 1 m, possibly more. The leaves are deciduous, spirally arranged but twisted at the base to lie in two horizontal ranks, 5 - long and 1 - broad, but 2 - long and scale-like on shoots in the upper crown. The cones are green maturing yellow-brown, pear-shaped, 2 - long and 1 - diameter, broadest near the apex. They open when mature to release the small, 5 - long, winged seeds.

Habitat

It typically grows in river banks, ponds and swamps, growing in water up to 60 cm deep. Like the related genus Taxodium, it produces 'cypress knees' when growing in water, thought to help transport oxygen to the roots.

Conservation

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

References

1. (2007-07-17). "''Glyptostrobus'' Endl.". United States Department of Agriculture.
2. Nguyễn Đúc Tố Luu, Philip Ian Thomas, 2004. [http://www.ceh.ac.uk/sections/documents/CMenglishfull_000.pdf Conifers of Vietnam]{{Dead link. (December 2022)
3. 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. link. (2012-03-20 .)
4. 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
5. (August 2019). "Forest characteristics and population structure of Glyptostrobus pensilis, a globally endangered relict species of southeastern China". Plant Diversity.
6. "Glyptostrobus pensilis - OneKP".