Phoebe zhennan

Phoebe zhennan
Conservation status
Vulnerable  (IUCN 2.3)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Magnoliids
Order:	Laurales
Family:	Lauraceae
Genus:	Phoebe
Species:	P. zhennan
Binomial name
Phoebe zhennan S. Lee & F.N. Wei

Phoebe zhennan is a large species of tree up to 30 metres (98 ft) tall in the Lauraceae family. Zhennan was originally a Chinese word that related to its Chinese name 楠 (Nan). It is endemic to China where it occurs in Guizhou, Hubei, and Sichuan provinces.^[2] It is threatened by habitat loss. The species is under second-class national protection in China. They were so valuable that only royal families could afford to use them. Especially when they are semi fossilized and become 乌木 (Wu Mu, "Black Wood"), the price on 2012 market could be as high as over $10,000 per cubic meter. ^[3]

References

1. World Conservation Monitoring Centre (1998). "Phoebe zhennan". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
2. Fa-Nan Wei & Henk van der Werff. "Phoebe zhennan". Flora of China. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
3. "National key protected wild plants (first batch)". Nature Reserve of China. 2004-07-10. Retrieved 13 April 2012.