Old trees play important roles in maintaining biodiversity, ecological balance and environmental protection. To conserve the old tree community of Taxus wallichiana var. mairei in Liancheng county, Fujian province, the species composition and structure of the community were analyzed using the method of sample survey. There were 74 vascular plants belonging to 66 genera of 41 families, in which most were monotypic genus. Rosaceae, Gramineae, Hamamelidaceae and Lauraceae were the four families with the largest number of species in this community. There were 12 genus areal-types in the community, which was consistent with the location of the community with the ratio of tropical element to temperate element (T/R) 1.03. The important values of T. wallichiana var. mairei, Phyllostachys edulis, and Cunninghamia lanceolata in arbor layer of this community were relatively high, which was 50.76%, 14.33% and 6.61%, respectively, while those of Camellia fraternal, Loropetalum chinense and Photinia davidsoniae in shrub layer were relatively high, which was 4.07%, 3.91% and 3.60%, respectively. In herb layer, Stellaria media, Dicranopteris linearis, and Miscanthus sinensis were the top three with importance values 13.30%, 10.33% and 9.82%, respectively. The vertical structure of this old tree community was clear, and it could be divided into three layers for arbor, shrub, and herb layers within few interlayer plants. T. wallichiana var. mairei was the dominated species in the uppermost layer. The old tree community of T. wallichiana var. mairei in Liancheng had important conservation value; however, young trees and seedlings of T. wallichiana var. mairei were missing in this community due to the constraints of human interference and interspecific competition. It is a feasible strategy to protect this community by constructing a fengshui forest with T. wallichiana var. mairei as the main body based on the scientific management.
| 科 Family | 属数 Number of genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) | 属 Genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 鹅膏菌科Amanitaceae | 2 | 11 | 5.26 | 鹅膏菌属 Amanita | 10 | 4.78 |
| 小菇科 Mycenaceae | 2 | 12 | 5.74 | 丝盖伞属 Inocybe | 5 | 2.39 |
| 多孔菌科 Polyporaceae | 8 | 14 | 6.70 | 蜡蘑属 Laccaria | 5 | 2.39 |
| 红菇科 Russulaceae | 3 | 23 | 11.00 | 小皮伞属 Marasmius | 6 | 2.87 |
| 小菇属 Mycena | 11 | 5.26 | ||||
| 光柄菇属 Pluteus | 5 | 2.39 | ||||
| 红菇属 Russula | 17 | 8.13 | ||||
| 栓菌属 Trametes | 5 | 2.39 |