PINACEAE 31 



ones are fertile ; ovules 3 to each scale. Fruit an ovate cone with closely 

 imbricated, coriaeceous, brownish scales, serrulate at the margin and 

 slightly reflexed at the apex. Seeds narrowly winged, 3 to each scale. 



2 species, 1 in China, the other in Formosa. 



Cunninghamia occurs in all the temperate parts of China at an eleva- 

 tion below that occupied by the spruces and the silver firs. 



Cunninghamia lanceolata Hooker. 

 (Sha Shu.) 



A tree of pyramidal habit with scaly, brownish outer bark and red 

 inner bark. Branches horizontal, short and spreading. Leaves linear, 

 acuminate, 2.5-5 cm. long. Cones 2.5-5 cm. long, persistent on the tree 

 1 or more years after the seeds are shed. 



Kiangsi, Kiangsu, Hupeh, Szechuan, Yunnan, Hunan, Fukien, 

 Kwangtung. 



Cunninghamia is mentioned in the earliest Classics, and in times 

 past, has been considered the most valuable tree. Extensive forests still 

 exist in the interior of Fukien and Hunan, as vast quantities of logs of 

 this tree are floated down the rivers for export. E. H. Wilson reports 

 several large forests of this species in western Szechuan. In the Chien 

 Chang Valley in Szechuan, logs of the Cunninghamia buried by an 

 earthquake about two hundred years ago, have been uncovered and sawn 

 into planks, and the lumber, which is reddish brown, fragrant, fine 

 grained and durable, commands a high price in the markets under the 

 name of "Hsiang Mu," used for the manufacture of the highest grade of 

 coffins. The wood of living species is light, soft, fragrant, easily worked, 

 employed for every purpose for which great strength is not required. 

 The wood has a broad sap wood and dark yellow heart wood. It is used 

 for house building, general carpentry, for making tea chests, for pillars 

 and masts and for boat building and a great variety of local uses. 

 Cunninghamia reproduces freely from suckers, and the sprouts which 

 spring from the stumps of felled trees grow rapidly into tree size, a 

 feature which renders this species particularly adaptable to coppice 

 management. Cunninghamia may prove to be the leading coniferous 

 species in the reforestation of China. 



