It belongs to the Betulaceae Family, with the Latin name of Carpinus putoensis.
The deciduous arbor can grow up to 13 meters high with a chest diameter of about 70 centimeters. The grey bark is smooth and the twigs are taupe, sparsely covered with fluffs. It bears thick leaves, ovoid or wide oval, with 5 to 10 centimeters in length and 3.5 to 5 centimeters in width. It is a monoecious plant with unisexual flowers. The male inflorescences are inserted on 1-year-old branches, which is 2.5 to 3.5 centimeters long and sagging. The infructescence is 4 to 8 centimeters in length and 4 to 5 centimeters in diameter. Its ovoid nutlet is 5 to 6 millimeters long.
It grows on edges of sloping forests of mountains 240 meters above sea level, where, influenced by marine climate, it's warm in winter and cool in summer and has high humidity all the year round. The thick red soil there is fertile, with the pH value of 5.5 to 5.7. It can resist shade, drought and wind. The male and female flowers blossom in the first ten days of April and the fruits ripen from late September to early October.
It's distributed on Zhoushan Islands and Foding Mountain of Puto Island in Zhejiang Province. There is only one individual living at present. It's a peculiar kind of rare and valuable plant in China, so it's of great significance for conservation of species as well as for natural landscaping.
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