Forestry officials are buoyed by the discovery of a new cluster of critically endangered Taiwan cow-tail fir trees. The new stand, located in Taitung County gives a shot in the arm to efforts to protect the rare plant species, officials in charge of forestation said Monday.

About 40 full-grown Taiwan cow-tail firs were found late last year on a mountain ridge 750 meters above sea level in Daren township in the southeastern county of Taitung, said Huang Chun-tse, a division chief with the Forest Bureau under the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture (COA).

However, the new sighting of the 40 healthy trees has not allayed worries over the risk of extinction of the species, Huang said.

The cow-tail fir is an evergreen giant plant of the Pinaceae family and Keteleeria genus that has existed on Taiwan soil since the last Ice Age. A healthy tree usually yields about 100 seedlings, 20 to 30 of which manage to survive, Huang said.

Unfortunately, only two young trees were found in the new cluster, he added. "Even in the Dawu and Pinglin buffer zones, where some 400 trees are growing, only one or two new plants are seen occasionally," Huang said.

Taiwan cow-tail firs, also known as Formosana Hayata, have been under threat from illegal loggers because of their fine oily wood. The Taiwan cow-tail fir is called one of the four wonder trees of Taiwan, along with Cycas taiwaniana, Amentotaxus formosana Li, and the Taiwan date palm.

It is categorized as "critically endangered" by the COA and is listed as one of the 11 rare and precious plants in Taiwan by the Council for Cultural Affairs. Currently, there are fewer than 500 trees on the island, most of which are found in Pinglin, Taipei County and Dawu, Taitung County, Huang said.

Tung Shih-liang, director of the Taitung Forest District Office's Guanshan Station, said the Taiwan cow-tail fir is on the verge of extinction because of factors such as logging, typhoons, fires, and climate change. The species' narrow gene pool is another major reason why it is declining, he added.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 04/13/2010 page3)