Cephalotaxus

Cephalotaxus, commonly called plum yew or cowtail pine, is a genus of conifers comprising 11 species, treated in either the Cephalotaxaceae, or in the Taxaceae when that family is considered in a broad sense.[1][2] The genus is endemic to eastern Asia, though fossil evidence shows it had a wider Northern Hemisphere distribution in the past.[1] The species are evergreen shrubs and small trees reaching 1.0–10 m (rarely to 20 m) tall.

Cephalotaxus
Cephalotaxus harringtonii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Division:	Pinophyta
Class:	Pinopsida
Order:	Pinales
Family:	Taxaceae
Genus:	Cephalotaxus Siebold & Zucc. ex Endl.
Type species
Cephalotaxus harringtonii
Species
Cephalotaxus fortunei Cephalotaxus griffithii Cephalotaxus hainanensis Cephalotaxus harringtonii Cephalotaxus koreana Cephalotaxus lanceolata Cephalotaxus latifolia Cephalotaxus mannii Cephalotaxus oliveri Cephalotaxus sinensis Cephalotaxus wilsoniana

Description

The leaves are spirally arranged on the shoots, but twisted at the base to lie in two flat ranks (except on erect leading shoots); they are linear, 4–12 cm long and 3–4 mm broad, soft in texture, with a blunt tip; this helps distinguish them from the related genus Torreya, which has spine-tipped leaves.[2]

The species can be either monoecious or dioecious; when monoecious, the male and female cones are often on different branches. The male (pollen) cones are 5–8 mm long, grouped in lines along the underside of a shoot. The female (seed) cones are single or grouped two to 15 together on short stems; minute at first, they mature in about 18 months to a drupe-like structure with the single large nut-like seed 1.5–4 cm long surrounded by a fleshy covering, green to purple at full maturity. Natural dispersal is thought to be aided by squirrels which bury the seeds for a winter food source; any seeds left uneaten are then able to germinate.[2]

Extant species

Image	Scientific name	Common name	Distribution
	Cephalotaxus fortunei	Chinese plum-yew	northern Burma and China
	Cephalotaxus griffithii	Griffith's plum yew	northern India, northern Myanmar and the western Sichuan Province in China.
	Cephalotaxus hainanensis	Hainan plum-yew	Hainan in southern China
	Cephalotaxus harringtonii	Japanese plum-yew, Harrington's cephalotaxus, or cowtail pine	from Kyūshū in the south to Hokkaidō, Japan
	Cephalotaxus koreana	Korean plum yew	Korea, Japan and northeast China
	Cephalotaxus lanceolata	Gongshan plum yew	northern Burma and southern China
	Cephalotaxus latifolia	Broad-leaved plum yew	southern China
	Cephalotaxus mannii	Mann's yew plum	southern China, northeast India, Laos, northern Thailand, northern Myanmar and northern Vietnam.
	Cephalotaxus oliveri	Oliver's plum yew	China and possibly to Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and eastern India.
	Cephalotaxus sinensis	Chinese plum yew	central and southern China.
	Cephalotaxus wilsoniana	Taiwan plum yew, Taiwan cow's-tail pine, and Wilson plum yew	Taiwan

References

1. Tripp, Kim E. (1995). "Cephalotaxus: the plum yews". Arnoldia. 55 (1): 25–39.
2. Christopher J. Earle (2011). "Cephalotaxus". The Gymnosperm Database. Archived from the original on 30 March 2012. Retrieved 31 March 2012.

External links

• Gymnosperm Database
• Photos: Cephalotaxus fortunei, Cephalotaxus koreana