Hickories
Carya
poilanei (A. Chev.) J. Leroy. Poilane's hickory.
(This
description is taken from Grauke, L.J.; Wood, B.W.; Payne, J.A.
Genetic resources of Carya in Vietnam and China. Annu. Rpt. N.
Nut Growers Assn. 82:80-87. 1991).
Poilane's hickory is known only from the original collections
used in the description of the species (Poilane 26,964, collected
Dec. 31, 1937, and maintained at the Herbarium Phanerogamie of
the Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris). Chevalier (1941) initially described
the tree as Juglans poilanei. The species was transferred to
the genus Carya by Leroy (1950), who noted in later work (Leroy,
1955) that nuts in Poilane's collection had funicular strands
in the shell and a basal plexus, while stems had solid pith, all
characters which distinguish Carya from Juglans. Chevalier (1941)
was evidently mislead by the presence of lacunae (cavities filled
with powdery material) in the walls of the shell as well as in
the septal areas, which is atypical of other living Carya species
but has been noted in fossil species of the genus (Leroy, 1955;
Mai, 1981).
Poilane made his collection "within the great forest near
the slopes of Pou-Nou , near Lai-chau, at 1000 m. elev., in calcareous
soil". Chevalier (1941) speculated that "Pou-Nhou"
referred to Pou-Nam, a massive mountain northwest of Lai-Chau,
with an elevation of 2,534 m., located at 22 30' N latitude near
the borders of China, Burma, Vietnam and Laos. Manning (1963)
with the corroboration of D. E. Stone, identified a sample from
"Muang Cha, Chiengkwang, Laos" as C. poilanei (Kerr,
21092, collected April 16, 1932, and maintained at herbaria of
the British Museum, Kew Gardens and in Paris). Manning speculated
that "Chiengkwang is probably Xieng Khouang in northern Laos"
(1963, p. 124).
Our Vietnamese hosts were, understandably, not familiar with this
obscure species, but were interested in finding it. Unfortunately,
access to the area is difficult and was not possible during our
short stay. Maps on display at the Forest Inventory Planning
Institute showed progressive deforestation in the northwest section
of Vietnam from 1943. We encouraged our Vietnamese colleagues
to find and preserve this rare and potentially valuable member
of the Carya genus.
LJ Grauke , Research
Horticulturist & Curator
USDA-ARS Pecan Genetics
10200 FM 50
Somerville, TX 77879
tele: 979-272-1402
fax: 979-272-1401
e-mail:
ljg@tamu.edu
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