Sunday, September 14, 2008

Camellia tunghinensis

Camellia tunghinensis is a species of plant in the Theaceae family. It is to China. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Camellia pubipetala

Camellia pubipetala is a species of plant in the Theaceae family. It is to China. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Camellia grijsii

Camellia grijsii is a species of plant in the Theaceae family. It is to China. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Calymmodon cucullatus

Calymmodon cucullatus is a species of fern in the Grammitidaceae family. It is to China. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Calocedrus macrolepis

Calocedrus macrolepis is a conifer native to southwest China , northern Vietnam, northern Laos, extreme northern Thailand and northeastern Myanmar.

It is a medium-size tree to 25-35 m tall, with a trunk up to 2 m diameter. The bark is orange-brown weathering greyish, smooth at first, becoming fissured and exfoliating in long strips on the lower trunk on old trees. The foliage is produced in flattened sprays with scale-like 1.5–8 mm long; they are arranged in opposite decussate pairs, with the successive pairs closely then distantly spaced, so forming apparent whorls of four; the facial pairs are flat, with the lateral pairs folded over their bases. The upper side of the foliage sprays is glossy green without stomata, the underside is white with dense stomata.

The are 10–20 mm long, pale purple with a whitish wax coating, with four scales arranged in opposite decussate pairs; the outer pair of scales each bears two winged seeds, the inner pair usually being sterile; the cones are borne on a 1–2 cm long peduncle covered in very small scale leaves. The cones turn brown when mature about 8 months after pollination. The pollen cones are 4–8 mm long.

It is closely related to ''Calocedrus formosana'', with the latter often treated as a of ''C. macrolepis''. They differ most obviously in the shorter cone stem, only 5 mm long, of ''C. formosana''.

The species is still fairly widespread and frequent in the wild, though threatened by over-harvesting for its valuable wood; it is also extensively planted within its native range for wood production. It is categorised by the IUCN as Vulnerable.

Calocedrus formosana

Calocedrus formosana is a conifer to Taiwan.

It is a medium-size tree to 20-25 m tall, with a trunk up to 3 m diameter. The bark is orange-brown weathering greyish, smooth at first, becoming fissured and exfoliating in long strips on the lower trunk on old trees. The foliage is produced in flattened sprays with scale-like 1.5–8 mm long; they are arranged in opposite decussate pairs, with the successive pairs closely then distantly spaced, so forming apparent whorls of four; the facial pairs are flat, with the lateral pairs folded over their bases. The upper side of the foliage sprays is green without stomata, the underside is marked with dense patches of white stomata.

The are 10–15 mm long, pale purple with a whitish wax coating, with four scales arranged in opposite decussate pairs; the outer pair of scales each bears two winged seeds, the inner pair usually being sterile; the cones are borne on a 4–6 mm long peduncle covered in small scale leaves. The cones turn brown when mature about 8 months after pollination. The pollen cones are 4–5 mm long.

It is very similar to ''Calocedrus macrolepis'', and some botanists treat it as a of that, ''C. macrolepis'' var. ''formosana''. They differ most obviously in the longer cone stem, 10–20 mm long, of ''C. macrolepis''.

The species has a very limited native range of less than 5,000 km?, and is threatened by over-harvesting for its valuable wood and conversion of natural forest to plantations of faster-growing exotic species. Some areas are now protected in reserves, and a limited amount of replanting is taking place, but an overall decline continues. It is categorised by the IUCN as Endangered.

Calanthe yuana

Calanthe yuana is a species of plant in the Orchidaceae family. It is to China.