PETER DEL TREDICI PREPARES FOR CHINA TRIP
Anthony R. Brach (brach@oeb.harvard.edu)
Mon, 25 Aug 1997 07:21:19 -0700
**** PETER DEL TREDICI (A) PREPARES FOR CHINA TRIP
Peter describes his upcoming trip as follows: On Saturday 24 August, I
leave for a five week collecting trip to Chang Bai Mountain in Jilin
Province, China, on the border with North Korea. Paul Meyer of the Morris
Arboretum and myself are co-leaders of the trip and we will be accompanied
by Charles Tubesing of the Holden Arboretum, Kris Bachtel of the Morton
Arboretum and Jeff Lynch of Longwood Gardens. Our Chinese host will be the
Nanjing Botanical Garden. An institution I have dealt with on three
previous trips to China.
Chang Bai Mountain is close to 8,000 ft elevation and is an extinct volcano
with a lake in its crater. Many people compare this "Heavenly Lake" to
"Crater Lake" in Oregon. The mountain is at 42 degrees north latitude,
essentially the latitude of Boston, but with a more severe climate. There
are four distinct forest zones on the mountain including arctic tundra near
the top. Chang Bai Shan is considered by many horticulturist to be the
home of super-hardy plants, including such species as Phellodendron
amurense, Tilia amurense, Juglans mandshurica, Betula ermanii, Betula
costata, Betula platyphylla, Larix olgensis, Pinus koriensis, Pinus pumila,
Quercus mongolica, Acer mono, etc. Many of these species are already
growing in the Arboretum but from more southerly provenance. We have very
little material in our collections from Chang Bai Shan and we fully expect
to bring back hardier "ecotypes" than are currently represented in our
collections. Ultimately, we hope to bring back germplasm of plants
(particularly medium-sized trees) that will become the tough urban and
suburban trees of the future.
After a brief visit to Beijing, I will be back at the Arboretum on 29
September.
(Peter also remarked that the rain was an auspicious omen and a great bon
voyage gift from Mother Nature.)