How many levels of protection does the yew have? Latest protection level explained
The yew is also known as purple yew, selaginella, oriental arborvitae, red bean tree, guanyin fir, etc. It is a tree of the genus Taxus in the family Taxaceae. Because under natural conditions the yew grows slowly and has poor regeneration capacity, for a long time no large-scale yew raw material forest base has been formed worldwide. Let us take a look below at how many levels of protection the yew has!
How many levels of protection does the yew have?
A rare protected tree species under China's national first-class protection. The yew is recognized worldwide as an endangered natural rare anti-cancer plant, an ancient tree species left over after the Quaternary glaciation, with a history of 2.5 million years on Earth. In 1994, the yew was designated by China as a first-class rare and endangered protected plant, and it is also called a “national treasure” by all 42 countries in the world that have yews, and the United Nations has also explicitly banned its felling, making it a veritable “plant panda”.
Where are the yew's places of origin distributed?
The yew is a species endemic to China, produced in southern Gansu, southern Shaanxi, Sichuan, northeastern and southeastern Yunnan, western and southeastern Guizhou, western Hubei, northeastern Hunan, northern Guangxi and southern Anhui (Huangshan), often growing in the upper parts of high mountains at altitudes above 1000-1200 m, and cultivated in Lushan, Jiangxi. The southern yew is produced in southern Anhui, Zhejiang, Taiwan, China, Fujian, Jiangxi, northern Guangdong, northern and northeastern Guangxi, Hunan, western Hubei, western Henan, southern Shaanxi, southern Gansu, Sichuan, Guizhou and northeastern Yunnan, with its vertical distribution generally lower than that of the yew, often growing in most provinces and regions at places below 1000-1200 m in altitude.
What types of yew are there in our country?
1. Northeastern yew: The northeastern yew is also known as purple yew, red cypress pine, rice tree, broad-leaved yew, Japanese yew, etc. It reaches up to 20 m tall, with a diameter at breast height of up to 1 m, red-brown bark, spreading or upward-slanting branches, and persistent bud scales at the base of the branchlets. Its leaves are arranged in irregular two rows, extending obliquely upward. Its seeds are purple-red, glossy, and ovate. Its flowering period is May-June, and its seeds mature in September-October. It is produced in the Laoyeling, Zhangguangcailing and Changbai Mountain areas of Jilin at altitudes of 500-1000 m, and is cultivated in Shandong, Jiangsu, Jiangxi and other provinces; it is also distributed in Japan, Korea and the Soviet Union.
2. Yunnan yew: The Yunnan yew is also known as the southwestern yew. It can reach 20 m tall and is dioecious. Its branches and leaves are luxuriant and its vitality is strong. Its bark is gray-brown, gray-purple or light purple-brown, splitting into scaly thin flakes that fall off. Its leaves are thin and soft in texture, linear-lanceolate or lanceolate-linear, often curved sickle-shaped. Its seeds grow in a fleshy cup-shaped aril, are ovate, with an elliptical hilum, and the aril is red when mature. It is produced in northwestern and western Yunnan, southwestern Sichuan and southeastern Tibet, growing in high mountain areas at altitudes of 2000-3500 m, and is also distributed in Bhutan and northern Myanmar.
3. Tibetan yew: The Tibetan yew is also known as the Himalayan yew. Its current-year branches are green, and its leaves are linear with a relatively thick texture. It is dioecious, with cones solitary in leaf axils; the male cones are spherical with many spirally arranged stamens and short stalks, and the female cones are almost stalkless. Its seeds mature in the same year, are nut-like, columnar-oblong, and grow in a fleshy, red, cup-shaped aril. It is a tree species endemic to Tibet, a national Grade I key protected wild plant, distributed in Afghanistan, Nepal and China's Tibet and other places.
4. Chinese yew: The Chinese yew is a species endemic to China, distributed in southern Gansu, southern Shaanxi, western Hubei, Sichuan and other places. In the central China region it is mostly seen in undisturbed environments in the upper parts of mountains above 1000 m; in the southern and southwestern regions it is mostly seen in mountain deciduous broad-leaved forests at 1500-3000 m, relatively concentrated in the Hengduan Mountain area and the mountains around the Sichuan Basin, and it is also distributed in northern Guangxi, eastern Guizhou and southern Hunan. China lists it as a first-class key protected plant.
5. Southern yew: The southern yew has light gray bark that splits vertically into long thin strips; the tips of its bud scales are blunt or slightly pointed, falling off or partly persistent at the base of the branchlets. Its seeds are obovate or columnar-long-ovate, 7-8 mm long, usually wider in the upper part, and grow in a red fleshy cup-shaped aril. Its seeds can be pressed for oil, its bark contains tannin, and its wood can be used as timber. It is distributed in the provinces and regions south of the Yangtze River basin as well as Henan and Shaanxi, and is cultivated in Nanjing and Shanghai. It is a national first-class key protected wild plant.