Why is the silver fir known as the "plant panda"?

Cryptomeria fortunei belongs to Pinaceae. Its leaves are like ordinary Chinese fir leaves, but its texture is soft. There are two white pores on the back of the leaf, which are silvery when the breeze blows, hence the name. According to textual research, as early as10 million years ago, Cryptomeria fortunei was widely distributed on the earth, but it was almost extinct in the world after an attack in the Quaternary glacial period. Only Hunan, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou and other provinces in the country have ups and downs, making it an ideal "refuge" for the silver fir. In the long-term struggle with the natural environment, we have a special instinct to adapt to various harsh environments, and we can survive and continue to multiply. Yin San provided evidence for the study of paleontology, paleoclimate and paleogeography. It is a living fossil for studying stratum evolution and cosmic celestial bodies. Known as "the panda in the plant" and "the pearl in the forest". The silver cedar has been extinct abroad, and only a few countries occasionally find its fossils. And my land of China is still slim and graceful, and it is really a "national treasure."

Cryptomeria fortunei is a precious protected plant in China. It is named because there are two pink stomatal bands on both sides of the midvein of its leaf back, which shine in the sun. According to the study of paleobotanists, in the tertiary period of geological history, Cryptomeria argyrophylla flourished and was once widely distributed in Eurasia. However, in the Quaternary, due to the earth's great changes, the land rose and the continent was covered by glaciers, so that most of the Cryptomeria species were destroyed except for a few "shelters" that were not harmful to glaciers. Foreign botanists have found the fossil of Cryptomeria fortunei in some areas and think it has disappeared from the earth.

However, in 1955, a China scholar found a still-living silver cedar in the mountains at the junction of Longsheng and Lingui counties in the northern mountainous area of Guangxi. This amazing discovery once caused a sensation in botany. People regard the silver cedar as a living fossil, a pearl in the forest, a panda in a plant and a national treasure.

Later, plant workers in China discovered the distribution of Taxodium ascendens in Sichuan, Guizhou and Hunan. Cryptomeria fortunei is endemic to China, and there is only one species of this genus. The height of the silver fir and the sturdiness of the trunk are the highest in the country. Among the three places found, the highest is 30.65 meters, DBH is 66 centimeters, the largest is 79.2 centimeters, and the height of the tree is 28.64 meters. In the mixed growth with other tree species, Cryptomeria fortunei is far ahead and grows in the first forest layer.