Taiwan incense cedar

About the plant

This is an evergreen conifer native to the mountains of central and northern Taiwan.

Endangered

The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species uses a set of criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of the world’s species. The ongoing mission is to evaluate every plant species in the world.

IUCN Red List Status:

Not yet evaluated

Data deficient

Least concern

Near threatened

Vulnerable

Endangered

Critically endangered

Extinct in the wild

Extinct
Material

Plant provides materials for manufacturing either fibre or timber

Click on icon to reveal more

Facts

Timber valued in construction
Slow growing species

Foliage of *Calocedrus formosana*
© Aljos Farjon/RBG Kew

*Calocedrus formosana*
© Aljos Farjon/RBG Kew

Foliage of *Calocedrus formosana*
By Shih-Shiuan Kao via flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0

Tony Kirkham climbs a mature *Calocedrus formosana* in Taroko Gorge, in 1992
© Tony Kirkham/RBG Kew

Uses

The valuable wood of this tree is in demand for construction purposes, mainly at a local or regional level.

Pressures of lumber harvesting and forest clearance have greatly reduced wild populations to just eight isolated locations in an area of less than 500km².

First specimens

The first specimens of this conifer were collected by notable plant collector Ernest Henry Wilson in 1918. He spent over a decade exploring China’s Sichuan province, from where he introduced 1,200 species of trees and shrub to the UK, including 400 new species and 4 new genera.

Our specimen was grown from seed collected in Taiwan by Tony Kirkham, Head of the Arboretum at Kew

Endangered

The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species uses a set of criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of the world’s species. The ongoing mission is to evaluate every plant species in the world.

IUCN Red List Status:

Not yet evaluated

Data deficient

Least concern

Near threatened

Vulnerable

Endangered

Critically endangered

Extinct in the wild

Extinct
Material

Plant provides materials for manufacturing either fibre or timber

Click on icon to reveal more

Our specimen was grown from seed collected in Taiwan by Tony Kirkham, Head of the Arboretum at Kew

Where to find this plant

Temperate House

Home to 1,500 plant species from temperate regions around the world.

Asia: Temperate Region

Asia has a complex and varied topography, with the tallest mountains and the deepest valleys. It has about 100,000 plant species.