Professional Documents
Culture Documents
VOLUM E 6 6 • N UM BE R 3
The Magazine of the Arnold Arboretum
VO L U M E 6 6 • N U M B E R 3 • 2 0 0 9 Cont ents
Arnoldia (ISSN 0004–2633; USPS 866–100) 2 The Impact of Climate Change on the
is published quarterly by the Arnold Arboretum Flora of Thoreau’s Concord
of Harvard University. Periodicals postage paid Abraham J. Miller-Rushing and
at Boston, Massachusetts. Richard B. Primack
Subscriptions are $20.00 per calendar year
domestic, $25.00 foreign, payable in advance. 10 A Matter of Taste: Pleasure Gardens
Remittances may be made in U.S. dollars, by and Civic Life
check drawn on a U.S. bank; by international Phyllis Andersen
money order; or by Visa, Mastercard, or Ameri-
can Express. Send orders, remittances, requests to 15 The Cathay Silver Fir: Its Discovery and
purchase back issues, change-of-address notices, Journey Out of China
and all other subscription-related communica- Christopher B. Callaghan
tions to Circulation Manager, Arnoldia, Arnold (with additional text by William
Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston, MA 02130- McNamara and Peter Del Tredici)
3500. Telephone 617.524.1718; fax 617.524.1418;
e-mail arnoldia@arnarb.harvard.edu. 26 The Li Jiawan Grand Ginkgo King
Arnold Arboretum members receive a subscrip- Zhun Xiang, Yinghai Xiang, Bixia Xiang,
tion to Arnoldia as a membership benefit. To and Peter Del Tredici
become a member or receive more information,
please call Wendy Krauss at 617.384.5766 or 32 An African Fir Grows in Boston
email wendy_krauss@harvard.edu. Kyle Port
Postmaster: Send address changes to
Front cover: The plump scarlet fruits of Red Sprite
Arnoldia Circulation Manager
winterberry (Ilex verticillata ‘Red Sprite’) brighten a
The Arnold Arboretum
snowy landscape. Photo by Nancy Rose.
125 Arborway
Boston, MA 02130–3500 Inside front cover: Groundnut (Apios americana),
Nancy Rose, Editor a North American native vine with edible tubers, is
Andy Winther, Designer part of the well-documented flora of Concord, Mas-
sachusetts. Photo by Abraham Miller-Rushing and
Editorial Committee Richard Primack.
Peter Del Tredici
Michael S. Dosmann Inside back cover: Kyle Port, Manager of Plant Records,
Jianhua Li profiles one of the few Arboretum accessions that
Richard Schulhof hails from Africa: a Moroccan fir (Abies pinsapo var.
marocana) growing in the Conifer Collection. Photos
Copyright © 2009. The President and by Nancy Rose.
Fellows of Harvard College
Back cover: Colorful Chinese lanterns dangle from a
linden (Tilia sp.) at Tivoli, Copenhagen’s 165-year-old
public pleasure garden. Photo courtesy of Tivoli.
The Impact of Climate Change on the
Flora of Thoreau’s Concord
Abraham J. Miller-Rushing and Richard B. Primack
How suddenly the flowers bloom! Two or three days ago I could not, or did not, find
the leaves of the crowfoot. To-day, not knowing it well, I looked in vain, till at length,
in the very warmest nook in the grass above the rocks of the Cliff, I found two
bright-yellow blossoms, which betrayed the inconspicuous leaves and all. The spring
flowers wait not to perfect their leaves before they expand their blossoms.
From the journal of Henry David Thoreau
Flora of Concord 5
of observing as many of Thoreau’s and Hos- warming among the most important. However,
mer’s species as we could. Eventually, we made pollution is thought to have a negligible effect
observations of the first flowering dates, in on flowering times relative to temperature. And
addition to recording the entire period of flow- although the rate of warming could alter how
ering, of over 500 species. Many of the species quickly flowering responses to temperature
we observed, and even the places where we saw might evolve, evolution is likely to be slow in
them, were identical to those that Thoreau and a flora, such as Concord’s, dominated by long-
Hosmer had seen. lived perennials and should have little impact
With these data in hand, we set out to test on flowering responses to temperature on the
whether first flowering dates had changed in time scales with which we were working.
Concord, and whether species differed in their We found a strong relationship between tem-
response to a warming climate. To simplify perature and flowering times in Concord; tem-
things, we started by analyzing changes in the peratures in January, April, and May explained
first flowering dates for 43 of the most common most of the variation in flowering dates. (More
spring-flowering species that Thoreau, Hosmer, on why those months later.) On average, plants
and we had all observed in nearly every year we flowered about three days earlier for each 1°C
looked. These species were abundant and widely warming. When we examined a much larger list
distributed, and probably reflected fairly the of 296 species, we found the same response of
changes in flowering times that had occurred flowering dates to temperatures.
more broadly in the Concord flora. On average, Because plant flowering dates respond to
these 43 species were indeed flowering about temperatures at particular times, we exam-
a week earlier in recent years than they had ined the relative importance of temperatures
in Thoreau’s day, with Hosmer’s observations in each month. Temperatures in January, April,
right in the middle. Some of these species’ flow- and May were by far the most important for
ering times changed dramatically. For example, most species; warmer temperatures in all three
highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), months were linked to earlier flowering dates.
a shrub of wetlands, and yellow wood sorrel April and May were important because they
(Oxalis stricta), a native herb of fields and road- were the temperatures immediately preced-
sides, are now flowering 21 and 32 days earlier, ing flowering for most species. Why January
respectively, than they did 150 years ago. temperatures were so important was more of
This trend toward earlier flowering corre- a mystery.
sponded with warming temperatures in the Winter temperatures are typically under-
Concord area. Temperature records from the stood to influence flowering times in temperate
Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory in Mil- plants through a process known as vernaliza-
ton, Massachusetts showed 2.4°C (4.3°F) warm- tion. Plants have biochemical methods to keep
ing from 1852 to 2006. Most of this warming track of how cold it is and for how long. Once
occurred because of urbanization and develop- it has been cold enough for long enough, plants
ment in the greater Boston area, while some of are said to be competent—that is, their dor-
it occurred because of global climate change. mancy is nearly complete and they are ready to
(For comparison, the average global tempera- start developing leaves and flowers as soon as it
ture warmed by about 0.7°C (1.3°F) over the warms up. If it never gets cold enough for long
past 100 years.) The relatively large warming in enough, the plants may still flower when tem-
Concord, boosted by urbanization, makes this peratures warm in the spring, but it will take
flora a good example for how floras in the rest of longer to flower; the colder it gets, the closer
the country, away from cities, may respond to the plants come to being fully competent, the
future warming. Global temperatures are pre- faster they flower in the spring. The need to
dicted to warm by about 3°C (5.4°F) in the next track the cold is a defense against abnormally
100 years. Of course, the responses of plants in a warm temperatures in mid-winter. Plants in
developed area may be different from rural areas New England are adapted to avoid flowering in
for a variety of reasons, pollution and the rate of January or February, even when the weather is
Flora of Concord 7
Rose pogonia (Pogonia ophioglossoides) is an elusive native orchid found in fens and other damp sites. Cardinal flower
(Lobelia cardinalis) grows in moist soils and produces spikes of bright red flowers in mid to late summer.
warm. Under this scenario, plants should flower the responses of natives and non-natives differ
earlier in the spring after cold winters, because from each other. However, season of flowering
they should become more fully competent. seemed to matter a great deal. The flowering
However, we found that plants flowered later times of early-season plants were on average
after particularly cold Januaries. Vernalization strongly correlated with temperature, whereas
was apparently not responsible for the response the flowering times of late-season plants had
we saw. Instead, we suspect that it gets so cold a much weaker link with temperature. If this
in Concord in January that in the coldest years pattern continues, the flowering season may
plants suffer physical damage to the vascular lengthen as temperatures warm. Spring species
tissue that delays flowering. We found support may flower ever earlier and the flowering times
for this hypothesis in a subsequent project of of summer species may not change much at
ours in which we looked for this sort of damage all. As a result, the degree of overlap in species’
in birches at the Arnold Arboretum. flowering times may be reduced.
Growth form seemed also to matter, although
Variation Among Species in a more indirect way. Among perennial herbs,
With data on all these species, we looked for pat- the flowering dates of late-season plants varied
terns of variation. Which species were the most a lot from year to year compared to the flower-
sensitive to temperatures? Did particular traits ing dates of early-season plants. However, the
seem to be associated with strong responses to variation in flowering time was not related to
temperature? temperature. We are still unsure of what is driv-
The flowering responses of plants from dif- ing the year-to-year variation in the flowering
ferent habitats (e.g., aquatic, forest, grassland, dates of late-season perennial herbs; it might
roadside, and wetland) did not differ, nor did have do with soil moisture, degree of shading,
8 Arnoldia 66/3
The results of our study show how perceptive Thoreau was keenly aware of the impor-
he was and suggest likely impacts of a warm- tance of educating people about environmental
ing climate. Interactions among species—e.g., issues. He helped Concord’s citizens to appre-
predators and prey, competing plants, plants ciate wild nature, and he encouraged them to
and herbivores—will certainly change. Most protect it. He wrote, “I think that each town
plant species can be pollinated by many animal should have a park, or rather a primitive forest
species or by the wind, and most pollinators of five hundred or a thousand acres, either in
can feed on various flowers. For them, the rela- one body or several, where a stick should never
tionships will shift, but they will probably con- be cut for fuel, nor for the navy, nor to make
tinue to persist. However, shifts in the timing wagons, but stand and decay for higher uses—
of specialist interactions, like those between a common possession forever, for instruction
hummingbirds and plants with long flower and recreation.” Residents of Concord and the
tubes, will probably lead to more dire conse- government have followed this advice; about
quences for the species involved. If a plant with 40% of Concord’s land is preserved in parks
a specialist pollinator flowers before its pollina- and protected areas, such as Walden Pond State
tor is active, its chances of reproducing may Reservation, Great Meadows National Wild-
decline significantly. Additionally, as the flow- life Refuge, and the Estabrook Woods. With
ering times of early-season plants continue to the help of these protected areas, we have
advance and pull away from the flowering times been able to continue the same observations of
of late-season plants, there may be times of low flowering times made by Thoreau at many of
floral resources for pollinators like bumblebees. the same localities in Concord. We now hope
Undoubtedly, some species will do well and that Thoreau’s observations and our own work
thrive under the changed circumstances, while will promote broad discussion of the effects of
others will do poorly and may even go extinct. climate change on biological systems.
notion of the park ideal: parks should be an London’s South Bank most completely and
antidote to urban ills, healing places for dam- intensely captured the public’s imagination. A
aged minds. Calvert Vaux’s famous comment favorite watering hole for Samuel Johnson, it
on Americans’ intuitive love of the country was was frequently used as a fictional backdrop by
at the core of learned park discussions. Vaux novelists. It offered grand promenades, open-air
spoke of an “innate homage to the natural in temples imitating ancient buildings, an array of
contradistinction to the artificial, a preference dining and drinking pavilions, small theatres,
for the works of God to the works of man.” Sup- bandstands, tea gardens, and private bowers for
porters of the pleasure garden model rejected romantic interludes. Linking the attractions
the imposition of rural scenery on the city and were elaborate flower displays of local and for-
embraced the seductive lure of sensual sound, eign blooms selected for color, fragrance, and
color, and light—a sustained Fourth of July cel- mood-evoking exotic origins. There were fire-
ebration, an extended summer fête. works and beguiling night-lighting in an era
when both were rare. In its heyday, Vauxhall
The Origin of the Public Pleasure Garden Gardens attracted aristocracy, royalty, and any-
The public pleasure garden originated in Lon- one who wished to mingle and immerse in an
don in the eighteenth century with extensive environment designed to please.
public gardens established at Ranelagh, Maryle- New York entrepreneurs transported the
bone, and Islington. But Vauxhall Gardens on Vauxhall Gardens concept, name, and menu of
Phyllis Andersen
Central Park’s Sheep Meadow reflects the pastoral, naturalistic theme inherent in Olmsted and Vaux’s winning design for the park.
12 Arnoldia 66/3
Music, dining, and assorted other revelries made London’s Vauxhall Gardens the place to see and be seen. Vauxhall Gardens, 1785,
engraved by Robert Pollard II after Thomas Rowlandson. credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Elisha Whittelsey Collec-
tion, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959 (59.333.975). Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art
attractions to New York in 1805, to the area urban parks. Certainly the questions posed 150
around Broadway and East 8th Street, which is years ago continue to resonate: Who owns the
now known as Astor Place. At the same time, parks? The planners? The middle class? The
even the less than sybaritic Hoboken, New Jer- working class having no other options? And just
sey created Elysian Fields, a popular waterfront as important: What is the purpose of a park?
park that offered ferry service from Manhat- The success of the public pleasure gardens
tan, and where, some say, the first organized was due to diligent management by entrepre-
game of baseball took place. The last of the neurs who owned them and developed new
New York pleasure gardens, Palace Gardens, attractions: balloon launches, water gondolas,
opened in 1858 (the same year as the Central music commissioned for special occasions. The
Park competition). It offered the usual array of eventual demise of the public pleasure garden
dining pavilions, water features, and elaborate was due in part to competition from new urban
night-lighting. amenities: restaurants, concert halls, theatres,
tearooms, and cafes dispersed throughout the
Legacy of the Pleasure Garden city. It was due as well to the growth of petty
Today, the tradition of the pleasure garden con- crime that, then as now, often attaches to public
tinues to influence the way we think about venues that draw huge crowds. And some plea-
Pleasure Gardens 13
sure gardens, having contributed to the growth trasts arranged in geometric or pictorial pat-
and desirability of the city, became victims of terns. Some traditions, such as the theatrical
their own success and were lost to real-estate display of plants in graduated tiers, evolved
development pressures. The prototypical evoca- from the eighteenth-century English estate
tion of a pleasure garden that survived is Copen- garden into the public pleasure garden, as still
hagen’s Tivoli, which opened in 1843. Patterned seen in Boston’s Public Garden today. Civic
on London’s Vauxhall and named for the beauti- horticulture draws on a rich planting tradition
ful resort town near Rome, it still offers fami- that evokes admiration of both the beauty of
lies a complete pleasure garden experience with the plantings and the ingenuity of the gardener.
attractions interspersed among flower displays The immense popularity of the Rose Garden in
appropriate to the season. the Fens section of Boston’s Emerald Necklace,
The horticultural display of pleasure gar- of the planted borders in downtown Boston’s
dens, with its emphasis on seasonal flowering, Post Office Square, and the grand flowerbeds
evolved into civic horticulture—embellishment at Copley Square are fine examples of horti-
of city-spaces that are not within the purview culture that enlivens the city, akin to Pop Con-
of the professional landscape architect and most certs on the Esplanade.
often maintained by gardeners trained through Although theme parks and amusement parks
apprenticeship and guided by trade magazines. are obvious descendents of the pleasure garden,
These plantings typically feature massing of recent trends in urban public parks suggest that
large numbers of flowers of strong color con- the pleasure garden is enjoying a renaissance
Modeled on public pleasure gardens such as Vauxhall, Tivoli opened in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1843. Tivoli’s exotic Moorish-
styled Nimb building is shown in 1910 (left), one year after being built, and as it appears today (right).
14 Arnoldia 66/3
GUANGXI ZHUANG Dayao Mountain Nature Reserve (aka Dayao Shan National
AUTONOMOUS REGION ➊ Forest Park) Established 1982. Jinxiu County.
CHONGQING MUNICIPALITY
(previously part of Sichuan Province) ➑ Wulong County.
The generic name Cathaya derives from the ping Nature Reserve in 1961 to protect the first
historic place name Cathay, a dominion of the found population of the trees. This was one of
Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan at the time of the earliest nature reserves created in China.
Marco Polo’s travels during the late thirteenth Since 1976 many more nature reserves have
century, and now the northern section of today’s been established throughout China, and around
China. However, the areas of the present day 4,000 Cathay silver firs presently occur in about
natural occurrence of Cathaya are actually out- a dozen of these (see map).
side the realm of what was known as Cathay Even when China opened to the west in the
in Marco Polo’s time. Instead, they fall within late 1970s, these nature reserves were gener-
another of Kublai Khan’s dominions known as ally off-limits to most foreigners. As late as
Mangi or Manzi, now the region of China south 1997, I and my colleague S.K. Png of the Aus-
of the Yangtze River. So perhaps in a histori- tralian Bicentennial Arboretum, during a visit
cal context the name Mangia would have been to Guizhou Botanical Garden in Guiyang, were
more appropriate, although without the appeal steered clear of the natural stand of Cathaya
of implied antiquity in the name Cathaya. argyrophylla growing in the forest reserve of the
garden. A similar situation befell the authors of
Guarding the Silver Southwest China, Off the Beaten Track while
The significance of the discovery of the Cathay they were researching their book during the
silver fir in 1955 was considered by the Chinese mid-1980s, and were discouraged from visiting
to be so important that they established Hua- Huaping Nature Preserve in Longsheng County,
18 Arnoldia 66/3
including 50 seed sent to the Arnold Arbore- and horizontal branching. Its long, narrow, ever-
tum, where none germinated. The Arnold Arbo- green leaves are about 4 to 6 centimeters (1.4 to
retum received further seed in 1998 from Fairy 2.4 inches) long (sometimes longer), and 2.5 to
Lake Botanical Garden in China, with excel- 3 millimeters (.08 to .11 inches) wide. Leaf color
lent germination [Ed. note: Read more about is deep green. On the underside, two promi-
Cathaya at the Arnold Arboretum on page 22]. nent silvery-white stomatal bands are separated
Finally, seed was allowed out of China in by the midrib. This flash of silver provides the
commercial quantities in 1998. Worldwide, species with its specific epithet, argyrophylla,
apart from botanical gardens, arboreta, and “with silvery leaves”.
rare plant collectors, relatively few private Surviving as it does in Chinese botanical
individuals appear to have acquired this desir- gardens at Shanghai near the coast and Wuhan
able conifer, although many have expressed in central China, which experience minimum
interest in obtaining the plant if and when it winter temperatures of -12°C ( 10°F) and -18°C
becomes available. (0°F) respectively, this rare and endangered tree
should be hardy in USDA zones 7 or warmer. In
Cathaya in the landscape slightly colder regions it may be suited to cul-
Although not yet widely grown, Cathay silver tivation provided it is given a sheltered micro-
fir certainly has potential as a landscape plant. climate where it is protected from extremes of
It is beautiful as a young plant, and ultimately winter cold and freezing winds. In its native
develops into a noble tree of about 20 meters range Cathay silver fir experiences cool sum-
(65 feet) or more tall with a columnar trunk mers, winter snow, high humidity, and plen-
20 Arnoldia 66/3
C
athaya argyrophylla co-author Chun Woon Young (Chen Huanyong)
had undertaken dendrology courses with Professor John Jack at the
Arnold Arboretum from 1915 to 1919 while completing graduate
studies at Harvard’s Bussey Institution. He was to comment that it would
take him a lifetime of travel to learn as much about Chinese trees as he did
while studying at the Arnold Arboretum for a few years.
Hsen Hsu Hu (Hu Xiansu), who was the lead author with W.C. Cheng in
naming and describing the dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides),
also studied under John Jack from 1923 to 1925. Thus, both the monotypic
“living fossil” conifers endemic to China, Cathaya argyrophylla and Metase-
quoia glyptostroboides, were named and described by pioneering Chinese
botanists who undertook forestry courses at the Arnold Arboretum.
Archives of the Arnold Arboretum
In this 1917 photograph, Professor John G. Jack studies a black maple with several students, including Chun Woon
Young (Chen Huanyong) at right.
Cathay Silver Fir 21
O
n October 21, 1998, like a bolt out of the blue, the Arnold Arbo-
retum received an unsolicited packet of nearly 600 seeds of the
extremely rare Chinese conifer Cathaya argyrophylla from the
Fairy Lake Botanical Garden in the city of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province,
China. We were excited about getting these seeds for two reasons: first,
Cathaya argyrophylla is an endangered species endemic to China, with
only limited distribution outside that country, and second, we had received
seeds three years earlier, in 1995, but to our great disappointment they had
failed to germinate.
When the Cathaya seeds arrived at the Arboretum they had no markings
other than the name of the plant and the return address. It was all rather
mysterious, and it wasn’t until nearly three years later, during a chance
encounter at the New York Botanical Garden, that I met Dr. Li Yong who
told me that the seeds had been collected from wild trees growing in Zi Yuan
County in Hunan Province, and that he had sent them to the Arnold Arbo-
retum. Needless to say, I thanked him profusely for the wonderful gift.
The day after the seeds arrived at the Arboretum, Jack Alexander and I
counted and divided them up into various lots to test their germination fol-
lowing various periods of moist stratification in the refrigerator. Because we
could find no written information about the dormancy requirements of the
seeds, and because the species is native to a warm temperate–subtropical
area, we made the assumption that the seeds probably required minimal
chilling. Table 1 lays out the parameters and results of the seed germination
experiment we set up in the Dana Greenhouses.
57 100 21 (21) 24
70 100 31 (31) 29
Despite our best guess, the seeds which received four months of cold
stratification germinated much faster and in much higher percentages
than seeds which received less than seventy days of chilling. So much for a
propagator’s intuition. By the time the experiment ended in July 1999, we
had potted up a total of 182 seedlings, which made for an overall germina-
tion rate of 32.6%.
Cathay Silver Fir 23
O
ur final goal was to reach the Jinfu Shan, the mountainous home
of the extraordinary conifer Cathaya argyrophylla . . . After a good
night’s rest in a fairly decent hotel in Nanchuan, we eagerly headed
to the jeeps for the drive up into the Jinfu Shan. To our surprise, blocking the
gate to the hotel were at least a dozen people arguing with Dr. Yin and Pro-
fessor Zhong. Apparently several of them were determined to keep us from
visiting the Cathaya. There was a representative from the local police, the
local tourist bureau, the forestry department, the public security bureau, the
Chinese army, the mayor’s office, and who knows what else. All were yelling
and throwing their arms up in the air. Finally they agreed that we could go
see the trees but stated emphatically that we would not be allowed to touch
or photograph them. At this point the argument was on the verge of get-
ting seriously out
William McNamara
o f c o n t r o l . D r.
Yin then made a
phone call to the
governor, who told
the troublemak-
ers that we could
indeed visit and
photograph the
valuable resource
Yinshan, the Chi-
nese name for
Cathaya argyro-
phylla, as we were
important scien-
tists from England
and America.
Two and a half
The expedition’s reward: seeing the silver-backed foliage of Cathaya argyro-
hours later our phylla in person.
jeeps, with an
escort of six Chinese to keep us under control, were climbing up steep,
mist-covered mountains. We stopped at about 1700 meters (5600 feet)
elevation in an area of dense bamboo . . . We then hiked in a light rain for
about 20 minutes, slightly uphill, to a large limestone outcrop about 15
meters (50 feet) high and wide. Our Chinese escorts pointed to the top of
the outcrop and said, “There they are.” Through the mist we could barely
make out several conifers growing on the top. As we stood there wonder-
ing if they would let us climb up to view them closer, we noticed that
someone had already rendered that nearly impossible. Everywhere that
it might have been possible to climb, the limestone outcrop had been
Cathay Silver Fir 25
T
he largest Ginkgo biloba tree in the numerous young shoots sprouting out all over
world, the Li Jiawan Grand Ginkgo the tree (Figures 2 and 3).
King, is located about a hundred kilo- Chinese investigators have determined that
meters west of Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou the Grand Ginkgo King is a “five-generations-
Province, China. The tiny hamlet of Li Jiawan in-one-tree” complex. In other words, the first
(26°39' N and 107°25' E) is too small to appear generation was a normal seedling which—as
on any maps. Administratively, Li Jiawan is a result of repeated sprouting from the base
part of Lebang Village, which is part of Huangsi over the course of several millennia—produced
Town in Fuquan County. four succeeding generations of trunks, each
The Grand Ginkgo King is growing at an of which has continued the tree’s growth and
altitude of 1,300 meters (4,265 feet) in a nar- development after the preceding generation
row valley where it towers over the surround- was damaged or died (Figure 4). The tree, as
ing bottomland vegetation, which consists we know it today, is the result of at least five
mainly of cultivated crops (Figure 1). It is a generations of stems produced over the course
male tree, about 30 meters (98 feet) tall, with of thousands of years. There are five distinct
a ground level trunk diameter of 460 centime- trunk sectors which are separate at ground
ters (181 inches) in the east–west orientation level but are partially merged at the height
and 580 centimeters (228 inches) in the north– of about a meter (3.3 feet) above the ground,
south direction. Its circumference at breast and new branches often sprout from the tissue
height is 15.6 meters (51 feet) and its canopy between trunk sectors. While each trunk sec-
shades an area of roughly 1,200 square meters tion seems to be physiologically independent,
(13,000 square feet). The primary “trunk” is the secondary fusion creates the appearance of
completely hollow and encloses an area of 10 a single tree (Figures 2 and 3).
to 12 square meters (108 to 130 square feet),
more than enough for seating a dinner party Age Estimation
of ten people. Indeed, during the 1970s, an old Extensive field work has shown that the Li
man by the name of Pan Shexiang, accompa- Jiawan Grand Ginkgo King is the biggest (in
nied by his cattle, lived in this natural tree terms of trunk diameter) ginkgo tree in the
cave for two years. world, a fact what was recognized by the Guin-
The inside of the trunk—up to a height of ness Book of World Records in 1998. The ques-
about 5 meters (16 feet)—is charred black from tion of how old the tree might be is unclear
lightning-ignited fires (Figure 2). The outside given that its internal tissues—with all their
of the trunk shows no signs of fire, but has growth rings—are totally gone. What we do
a ragged appearance caused by the exces- know, however, is that ginkgo trees of differ-
sive amount of callus tissue that has formed ent ages have very different appearances and
between the new branches and old trunks. growth characteristics, and that different gen-
In addition, large hanging chichi (downward erations of ginkgo trunks typically have dif-
growing shoots that look something like sta- ferent growth rates and different longevities.
lactites) have developed in response to various We have come up with a rough estimate of the
wounds and breaks, adding more confusion to Grand Ginkgo King’s age based on what we
the convoluted woody excrescences that cover know about the ages of other ancient ginkgo
the trunk. As battered as the outside of the trees in China with a similarly complex devel-
tree appears, however, it maintains a vigorous opmental history: the first generation stem(s)
hold on life, as attested to by the presence of can typically reach up to 1,200 years of age, the
Grand Ginkgo King 27
P. Del Tredici.
Figure 1. The Li Jiawan Grand Ginkgo King as it appeared in September 2002.
second generation stems live for about 1,000 there, he was severely beaten and eventually
years, the third 800 years, the fourth 600 years, died from his wounds. His body was buried at
and the fifth about 400 years. According to Li Jiawan by the local people, who deeply loved
this highly theoretical formula, the Li Jiawan this scholar who tried to help ordinary people.
Grand Ginkgo King has a maximum estimated Soon afterwards, a huge tree grew out from the
age of around 4,000 to 4,500 years. tomb. This tree was considered the avatar of
scholar Bai and given the name “bai guo tree”
Legends and Romance (one of the Chinese names for Ginkgo biloba).
The Grand Ginkgo King has been living for Another story about the origin of the tree
thousands of years without an official record dates from the Ming dynasty and holds that the
in the history books of the local government. Li Jiawan Grand Ginkgo tree transformed itself
However, there are many folk legends surround- into a scholar and entered a national competi-
ing this tree. Writer Shixian Xu described one of tion. The tree-scholar won the championship
these legends: and was appointed to be a high official by the
During the Tang dynasty there was a scholar king. When the tree-scholar failed to show up
named Bai who had recently gained a governor’s for the position, the king sent two messengers to
position by winning a national competition. At find him, both of whom were killed when they
some point after taking office, Bai had a fight came back empty handed. The third messenger
with a treacherous court official who had done that the king sent was worried about his own
a lot of bad things to the ordinary people. Given safety since he too could find no trace of the
that bad officials typically protect each other, mysterious scholar. During his disturbed sleep
the scholar Bai was punished for his actions and one night, he had a dream in which a person
sent off to an isolated army camp. On the way appeared calling himself “Bai.” At this point
Drawing by Yinghai Xiang.
28 Arnoldia 66/3
P. Del Tredici.
Nancy Rose
T
he Arnold Arboretum’s Conifer Collec- Described by French botanist Louis Charles
tion offers visitors an opportunity to Trabut in 1906 as A. marocana, the Moroccan
explore gymnosperms collected from fir is confined to the Rif Mountain Range of
around the world. While Eastern Asian, Euro- Morocco, growing at altitudes between 4,600
pean, and North American species dominate and 6,900 feet (1,400 to 2,100 meters). The cal-
the collection, a solitary Moroccan fir, Abies careous soil of this region supports associated
pinsapo var. marocana, stands as an exceptional taxa, and notes from the Arnold Arboretum’s
North African taxon. collecting trip detail an open fir forest contain-
Grown from seed collected by former Arbo- ing Cedrus atlantica, Acer (A. opulus ssp. his-
retum plant propagator Rob Nicholson on Mt. panicum, A. campestre, A. monspessulanum),
Tisouka near Chefchaouen, Morocco, in 1982, and Paeonia (P. coriaceae var. maroccana).
specimen 1435-82-A has thrived undamaged in Rare in cultivation, the International Union
the landscape for 15 years. It is one of two plants for Conservation of Nature and Natural
of accession 1435-82 that were moved from the Resources considers Abies pinsapo var. maro-
Arboretum’s Dana Greenhouse to the grounds cana to be a “near threatened” species, an indi-
on September 21, 1993. One plant did not sur- cator that it could become threatened in the
vive transplantation and was noted as dead in wild in the near future. Human activities (log-
the spring of 1994. The lone survivor, which was ging, expansion of cultivated areas, population
approximately 4.3 feet (1.3 meters) at the time of growth) and climate change may further restrict
transplant, is now a stunning exemplar at 28 feet the range of this taxon. However, preservation
(8.5 meters) tall with a DBH (diameter at breast efforts are ongoing and the establishment of the
height) of 12.6 inches (32 centimeters). Talassemtane National Park, which contains
Conical in youth, the tidy habit of this speci- the only remaining Moroccan fir forest, was cel-
men has opened slightly over the years to reveal ebrated by conservation organizations in 2004.
smooth gray bark. Radially arranged needles
persist for 11 to 13 years, giving even older Related species:
branches an armored appearance. The dark
Abies pinsapo ‘Glauca’, blue Spanish fir, is
green needles are streaked with 7 to 11 silvery
also represented in the Arboretum’s collection
stomatic lines on the upper surface; the lower
(accession 192-42-A, obtained from W.B. Clarke
surface is marked with two pronounced stom-
and Company, San Jose, California). Planted
atic bands on either side of the midrib. Unlike
in the fall of 1954, this blue-hued cultivar is
the characteristically soft-to-the-touch foliage
topped with dozens of cones this year. Sepa-
of most Abies, the needles of Abies pinsapo var.
rated from the Moroccan fir by the Straits of
marocana have sharply pointed apices, mak-
Gibraltar, the Spanish Fir (Abies pinsapo var.
ing the foliage far less friendly to fingers. The
pinsapo) is endemic to the Sierra de Ronda in
upright cylindrical cones typical of the species
Southern Spain.
have not yet been observed on this specimen
but can be expected soon; sexual maturity for
Moroccan fir is typically reached when the trees Kyle Port is Manager of Plant Records at the
are between 25 and 35 years old. Arnold Arboretum.