The long-lived yew (Taxus cuspidata) in the National park “Udege Legend”. L.A. SIBIRINA, G.A. GLADKOVA
Keywords:
Primorsky Krai, yew age, tree diameter, annual ring widthAbstract
The long-lived yew (Taxus cuspidata) in the National park “Udege Legend”. L.A. SIBIRINA, G.A. GLADKOVA (Federal Scientific Center of the East Asia Terrestrial Biodiversity, FEB RAS, Vladivostok).
Dating the age of species of the genus Taxus presents certain difficulties due to the fact that old yews are hollow. On the territory of the National park “Udege Legend” in the Korean pine-spruce-yew forest in the basin of the Kovalevsky Stream (right bank of the Bolshaya Ussurka River), a long-lived yew grows, whose age according to the all–Russian program “Trees – monuments of the wildlife” is 2000 years. To confirm or deny this information, it was decided to use all available methods to estimate the age of this yew tree. A dendrochronological survey of this and nearby growing trees of T. cuspidata showed that the average growth rate is quite high and is 0.94 mm per year. Based on instrumental and calculated data, it is established that the age of the long-lived yew is 502 years.