Betula chichibuensis

Betula chichibuensis
Chichibu birch specimen at the Botanischer Garten Halle, Germany
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fagales
Family: Betulaceae
Genus: Betula
Species:
B. chichibuensis
Binomial name
Betula chichibuensis

Betula chichibuensis, commonly known as Chichibu birch (Chichibu-Minebari in Japanese[1]), is a species of birch native exclusively to limestone outcrops in the Okuchichibu and Kitakami Mountains of central and northeast Honshu, Japan.[2] The tree is rated as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List due to its extreme rarity and limited range.[1]

In 1993, only 21 B. chichibuensis trees existed in the wild. Although several other small populations of the tree were discovered in the 2010s, including the Kitakami populations,[3][4] the Chichibu birch remains very rare. Ex situ conservation efforts to prevent the species' extinction are ongoing, including at the University of Liverpool's Ness Botanic Gardens[1] and the Bedgebury National Pinetum.[5]

  1. ^ a b c d Shaw, Kirsty; Shyamali, Roy; Wilson, Becky (2014-08-01). "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Betula chichibuensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Archived from the original on 2018-10-28. Retrieved 2021-06-29.
  2. ^ Igarashi, Yuji; Aihara, Hiroki; Handa, Yoshihiro; Katsumata, Hiroshi; Fujii, Masanori; Nakano, Koichiro; Hirao, Toshihide (May 2017). "Development and Evaluation of Microsatellite Markers for the Critically Endangered Birch Betula chichibuensis (Betulaceae)". Applications in Plant Sciences. 5 (5): 1700016. doi:10.3732/apps.1700016. ISSN 2168-0450. PMC 5435406. PMID 28529833.
  3. ^ McAllister, Hugh (2019). "924. Betula Chichibuensis". Curtis's Botanical Magazine. 36 (4): 365–374. doi:10.1111/curt.12305. ISSN 1467-8748. S2CID 212925397.
  4. ^ Nuwer, Rachel (2015-10-26). "Saving a Rare Tree Worlds Away". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-06-29.
  5. ^ "Conservation at Bedgebury". Forestry England. Retrieved 2021-06-29.