Three-angle oaks, a time-honored arboreal species under the National protection of China, have been successfully propagated and cultivated by CAS botanists at the botanical garden under the CAS Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB) in Yunnan Province. As a rare and endangered evergreen tree, three-angle oak (Trigonobalanus doichangensis) is a cousin of oak in taxonomic affinity. It was recorded that the species was only distributed in north Thailand until Prof. Xu Yongchun, a Chinese expert of Oak family (Fagaceae) and other botanists from KIB, discovered and described its new distribution in South Yunnan. Genus Trigonobalanus includes three species and T. doichangensis is the only one distributed in this country and its individuals are found sparsely scattered in the tropical and subtropical evergreen broadleaf forests at 1,000 - 1,700 meters above the sea level, in counties of Lancang, Menglian, Ximeng and Cangyuan of Yunnan. The distribution regions are situated in south parts of the Tropic of Cancer. As a primitive taxon in the family Fagaceae, it has highly scientific value in phylogeny of the family, and it is also an important plant species in the studies of the continental drift theory as well the global environmental change.
展开▼
