It belongs to thePinaceaeFamily, with the Latin name ofAbies yuanbaoshanensis.
The evergreen arbor can grow up as high as 25 meters, with a chest diameter of 60 to 80 centimeters. It bears straight trunk with dark henna bark cracking into irregular pieces. The leaves under twigs are arranged into 2 rows: the ones on top of the twigs are borne closely and stretch outward and upward, while the leaves on central part of the twigs are short. It bears short cylindric cones, which is upright and 8 to 9 centimeters long, with a diameter of 5 centimeters. The cones turn light brown and yellow when ripened. The seed is ob-triangular and oval, with ob-triangular light pitchy wings.
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It prefers growing in mixed forests of more deciduous broadleaf trees and less conifers in tropical mountainous region of Central Asia. The earth there is mainly acidic yellow brown earth developed from granite with pH value of 4.5 to 5. The seedling is cold-resistant and shade-tolerant, but becomes photophilous when grown up. It grows slowly and fructifies once every 3 to 4 years. It blossoms in May and the fruits ripen in October.
It's only distributed in Yuanbao Mountain, north of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It grows sparsely on ridges 1,700 to 2,050 meters above sea level. It's an ancient epibiotic. The hundreds of individuals in existence are mostly trees of a hundred years or older. It has no good natural regeneration and few seedlings are found in forests. It's in urgent need of protection.
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