Қытай шыршығы: Кетелерия Форчуна (Keteleeria fortunei)

Species of conifer

Keteleeria fortunei (zh: 油杉, you shan) is a coniferous evergreen tree. Originated in China, K. fortunei is an ancient relict species and a second class national key protected plant, "mainly distributed in south subtropical to the middle subtropical edge". It is found in the provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Yunnan, and Zhejiang. The tree grows in hills, mountains, and broadleaf forests at elevations of 200–1400 m. The lifespan of K. fortunei can reach more than a thousand years, and the height of a thousand year old tree can reach more than 40 meters. "Economically, K. fortunei is a treasure, and its comprehensive development and uses has broad prospects".

It grows 25–30 m tall and 1 m in trunk diameter at breast height, forming a pyramidal crown with spreading, horizontal branches. The bark is dark gray, rough, and furrowed in a vertical pattern. Branchlets are orange red and pubescent when young, turning yellow gray or yellow brown in their second or third year. The leaves are 1.2–3 cm long by 2–4 mm broad, stiff, sharply pointed on young trees and rounded or rarely slightly notched on mature trees. They are shiny dark green above and pale green on the underside with 12 17 stomatal lines on each side of the midrib. The cones are cylindrical, 6–18 cm long, 3–5 cm wide before opening and up to 7.5 cm wide after opening. They stand erect on short pubescent stalks and mature in October to a purple brown color. The cones open upon maturity to release the seeds, which are large and oblong, 1 1.3 cm long with a yellow brown wedge shaped wing 3 cm long.

The tree is grown as an ornamental in warm climates, and the wood is used in construction and furniture, although the species is protected under Chinese forestry regulations. "The ancients regarded K. fortunei as a mascot, and it was often placed around religious and sacrificial places such as Miao shrine and Ancestral shrine, which is why it suffered less man made damage". This nature reserve is of great value for the study of paleogeography, paleoplants, paleoclimatology, etc. in the sea area near Shenhu Bay. In addition to the remains of the Ancient Submarine Forest in Shenhu Bay, the relics of K. fortunei have also been excavated in other places, such as a fossil about 70 million years ago unearthed near Xinyang and 罗山/Luoshan in Henan, a wooden slip of the Zhou Dynasty unearthed in 沙市/Shashi, Hubei, and a 9,300 year old wooden stem unearthed in Wuhan, Hubei.