侧柏属 ce bai shu

Biota D. Don ex Endlicher.

Trees evergreen, monoecious; branchlets arranged in a plane, spreading or ascending, flattened. Leaves decussate, 4-ranked, scalelike, base decurrent, with an abaxial resin gland, dimorphic along branchlets; lateral leaves without conspicuous, white stomatal bands abaxially but with a median groove. Pollen cones with 8-12 microsporophylls, each with 3-6 pollen sacs. Seed cones terminal, solitary, dehiscent when mature in 1st year; cone scales 6 or 8, decussate, flat, thick, woody, only the middle 2 pairs fertile; free bract apex a long, recurved cusp. Seeds wingless, rarely with a very narrow wing. Cotyledons 2.

One species: China, Korea, E Russia.

Lower Taxon

• Platycladus orientalis (Linnaeus) Franco