[Magdalen] Rescue (No Anglican Content)

[cantor03 at aol.com]

There have been several rescues of trees from near extinction.
In the past 100 years or so. The prominent tree savings that cometo mind include the Gingko biloba (Maiden Hair Tree) which is actuallya conifer despite its appearance. and the Metasequoia glyptostroboides(Dawn Redwood), both of which are widely planted in the temperateclimates.  The two of them were relic trees in China, and plant explorerscame to the rescue.

There is an international effort now to save and propagate a pine,currently limited to a few acres with perhaps 200 trees in the highlandsof Viet Nam.  The pine is not only rare, but it is an unusual specieshaving a rounded broad stature much like that of an oak, and thespecies has flat leaves (needles) much like the Taxus species. 
The name, dubbed in 1924 is Krempf Pine (Pinus krempfii).  Thereis an international effort to collect seeds from the species pine-cones, but
cones are only at the top of fully grown trees, and once retrieved withdifficulty, only about 30% of them are viable.

Longwood Gardens, the Dupont place, is one of the sources for fundsto accomplish establishing this pine throughout the temperate world.Despite growing in Viet Nam, the pine is a high mountain species,and thus the expectation that it will grow where there is a temperateclimate.

I think they will succeed, though I don't think I'll be around when theyfinish saving the species.  It is good to see that it is not only birds andanimals that are being rescued. 


Information here is from the quarterly American Conifer Society magazine,"Conifers,"of which organization I am a member.


David Strang.