- Family:
- Betulaceae Gray
- Genus:
- Carpinus L.
Carpinus fangiana Hu
Carpinus fangiana is a rare hornbeam from western China, with large, elegant leaves and long, green catkins. It normally forms a large shrub, but when conditions are sufficiently warm and humid it can grow to a large tree up to 20 m tall.

[KSP]
Kew Species Profiles
- General Description
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The leaves and fruiting catkins of Fang's hornbeam are larger than those of any other hornbeam.
Carpinus fangiana is a rare hornbeam from western China, with large, elegant leaves and long, green catkins. It normally forms a large shrub, but when conditions are sufficiently warm and humid it can grow to a large tree up to 20 m tall.
It is named after Fang Wen-Pei (1899-1983), a Chinese botanist and expert on the trees of Sichuan, who first collected this species near Nanchuan Xian, in southeastern Sichuan, near Chongqing.
- Species Profile
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Geography and distribution
Western China, in Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi Provinces at 900-2,000 m elevation.
DescriptionA tree reaching up to 20 m or a multi-stemmed shrub with dark brown or grey bark. The twigs are smooth with large, spindle-shaped dormant buds. The leaves are finely serrate-dentate and thin and measure 6.0-25.0 cm long and 2.5-7.0 cm wide.
The male catkins are up to 6 cm long with deeply and irregularly toothed bracts, whereas female catkins are up to 50 cm long (giving rise to the common name monkeytail hornbeam) with papery bracts bearing shallow teeth apically (near the apex or tip) and on the inner margin. The nutlet is oblong, 3.5 cm long and glabrous.
Threats and conservationFang's hornbeam is widespread but rare in the wild. There are no known direct threats.
UsesFang's hornbeam is cultivated as an ornamental.
This species at KewCarpinus fangiana can be seen growing west of the Azalea Garden at Kew Gardens.
Seeds of this species were introduced to Kew in October 1991 from a collection (SICH 842) made by John Simmons, Charles Erskine, Charles Howick and William McNamara.
- Distribution
- China
- Ecology
- Temperate lower montane rain forests on shady slopes.
- Conservation
- Not evaluated according to IUCN Red List criteria.
- Hazards
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None known.
Native to:
China South-Central, China Southeast
- English
- Fang’s hornbeam
Carpinus fangiana Hu appears in other Kew resources:
Date | Reference | Identified As | Barcode | Type Status | Has image? |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fang, W.P. [1351], Sichuan | K000859928 | Yes | |||
Fang, W.P. [2658], Sichuan | Carpinus wilsoniana | K000859919 | Yes |
First published in J. Arnold Arbor. 10: 154 (1929)
Accepted by
- Govaerts, R. (1999). World Checklist of Seed Plants 3(1, 2a & 2b): 1-1532. MIM, Deurne.
- Govaerts, R. (2003). World Checklist of Selected Plant Families Database in ACCESS: 1-216203. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Literature
Kew Species Profiles
- Flora of China. Carpinus fangiana. 4:291.
- Grimshaw, J. & Bayton, R. (2009). New Trees: Recent Introductions to Cultivation. International Dendrology Society and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
- Lancaster, R. & Rix, M. (2011). Curtis’s Bot. Mag. 28(2): t. 705.
- The Plant List (2010). Carpinus fangiana.
- World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (2010). Carpinus fangiana. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
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Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
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Kew Backbone Distributions
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
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Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
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Kew Science Photographs
Copyright applied to individual images
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Kew Species Profiles
Kew Species Profiles
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0