EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Ancient and Famous Tree of Yunnan

Chinese Tamarisk (Tamarix chinensis), Family Tamaricaceae
Yunnan Province, China

Explanation:  Here in Yunnan Province, southern China, the Yunnan Forestry Department and Forestry Commission keeps a registry of what they term "Ancient and Famous Trees of Yunnan Province."  And here is one striking example.

This is a Chinese tamarisk, native to China and Korea, but immortalized here in Liuli Palace of Baishi, located in China's Yunnan Province.  A local signboard notes that this specimen is 500 years old, being the oldest of its kind in all of China.  

This tree is 8 meters (26 feet) tall, is deeply rooted, and its trunk is divided in two with leans toward the north and the south.  

The common name for this tree here is not Chinese tamarisk, but "fern leaf hedge willow" ... a dubious appellation, in that it is not a fern ... nor just a leaf ... nor a hedge ... and especially not a willow.  Other common names for this species include five-stamen tamarisk and saltcedar.  

Unfortunately, despite its local notoriety, this species is invasive along waterways in southern and southwest United States, having "severe ecological impacts on physical processes, plant and animal communities, and vegetation structure."  Basically, then can suck the water deeply out of already-arid soils, outcompete native vegetation, and even hybridize with other tamarix species.  They were originally introduced into the U.S. as windbreaks and ornamentals.  

Information:
     Gaskin, J.F., and D.J. Kazmer.  2008.  Introgression between invasive saltcedars (Tamarix chinensis and T. ramosissima) in the USA.  Biological Invasions 11:1121-1130.