Like Lantana camara, the native distribution of Chinese fir is not known; however, it is for a different reason. An important timber tree in southeast Asia, Cunninghamia lanceolata has been cultivated for its wood for over eight hundred years. It is now nigh impossible to determine where it is native and where it has been introduced.
Its importance as a timber tree is at least partly due to both the ease in which it can be propagated clonally and its ability to regrow from its roots – both qualities which are rare (unique?) among conifers (source: Minghe L and G Ritchie. 1999. Eight hundred years of clonal forestry in China: I. traditional afforestation with Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook.). New Forests. 18(2): 131-142).
'Glauca' refers to the bluish-grey waxy “bloom” of the new foliage.
As always for conifers, also see Cunninghamia lanceolata via the Gymnosperm Database.
Photography / art / nature resource link: It's not botanical, but I'll make an exception for it, since the artist's message is profound. Thanks to Eva for sending along this gem: Ashes and Snow. “Gregory Colbert's Ashes and Snow is an ongoing project that weaves together photographic works, three 35mm films, art installations and a novel in letters. With profound patience and an unswerving commitment to the expressive and artistic nature of animals, he has captured extraordinary, unscripted interactions between humans and animals.” Grist has an article about the exhibition in Santa Monica.
Cunninghamia lanceolata - Z7 - RHS Index of Garden Plants, Griffiths
Cunninghamia lanceolata - Z7-9 - A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, Brickell, Cole, Zuk
Coast redwood, sequoia sempervirens, is another commercially important conifer propagated clonally and which regenerates profusely from the roots.
We can't match China's 800 years of cultivation, but we've been at it for over a hundred years on the Mendocino coast and going strong.
Thanks Mark - also in the Cupressaceae family, I note.
Interesting - I've never seen the glaucous form, does it display the same colour changes through the season that the type form does. Our specimen is bright coppery orange every winter.
This shot is just terrific!
Should be OK to zone 6, particularly cv. 'Glauca', which has a reputation of being hardier than (most?) other clones.
yay botany shot of the day, i love this picture it is beautiful. i made it my background because im awesome!
This just jumps right out at you when you put it for your desktop background.
Question: Are these one in the same?
Cunninghamia lanceolata 'Glauca'
and
Cunninghamia lancifolia 'Glauca'
Sam - yes, maybe? There is no such plant name as Cunninghamia lancifolia, so if you are seeing that at a nursery, they have it misnamed.
I live in the 800 meter high mountain town of Petropolis in Rio de Janeiro state. I have planted many saplings that formed from layered branches which hang so low and heavy to the ground that they eventually become covered by heeps of foliage and root naturally. They then send new growing tips up out of the duff to form new trees so that when you pull one up, thinking its from seed, up comes the entire branch and all the other newly rooted saplings with it...
I must disagree with the zone 7 rating on this plant. I've had Cunninghamia l. (the straight species, not the glauca, I have both cultivars) growing in my garden through 5 winters in Cleveland OH, with temperatures as low as -13F with only slight bronzing of the foliage. I find zone information should be used only as a guide, not as an absolute.
I just came across a couple of these in an isolated hollow in southern West Virginia that are located on a couple of abandoned house sites.
I am really curious on how they got there. Any ideas anyone???
One is about forty feet tall and another about fifteen feet tall.
How fast do they grow?