Posted 2018/8/30
The Parashorea chinensis is a tree species unique to China and one of the tallest species currently in Asia. Shaped like a big umbrella, the tree soars into the sky. It's also known as "the umbrella tree". The tree is generally 60 meters tall, with some reaching 80 meters, about the same height as a 20-storey building. It is a big evergreen tree in the gurjun family.
In 1975, the Parashorea chinensis was discovered by Chinese forest scientists for the first time. The tree is distributed only in the seasonal humid rainforest in the tropical areas on the north side of the upper reaches of the Nanla River in Mengla County of Xishuangbanna in Yunan Province. The tree normally grows in low mountain valleys 700 to 1100 m above sea level and in gully areas.
The tree, unarguably "a giant in the forest", has a long and straight trunk, strong and imposing. There are 4-6 buttress roots at the foot of the tree, just like a base of the "umbrella". Branches and leaves grow on the upper part of the trunk, with no branches extending to the lower part. The fruit is an egg-shaped oval nut, covered in fuzz. There are five fruiting wings, developed from overgrown persistent calyxes. The tree blooms in every May and the fruit ripens in September. When autumn comes, old leaves fall and tender buds of new leaves come out, then the tree will be covered in blooming yellow-white followers.
