JOURNAL OF NANJING FORESTRY UNIVERSITY ›› 2024, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (3): 2-13.doi: 10.12302/j.issn.1000-2006.202404034

Special Issue: 郑万钧先生诞辰120周年纪念专题

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Professor Cheng Wan-chun and Dendrology

FANG Yanming()   

  1. Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Key Laboratory of State Forestry and Grassland Administration on Subtropical Forest Biodiversity Conservation, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
  • Received:2024-04-28 Revised:2024-05-07 Online:2024-05-30 Published:2024-06-14

Abstract:

As a distinguished dendrologist, forester, and forestry educator, Professor Cheng Wan-chun (1904-1983) devoted his life to the pursuit of dendrology science and education. As a learner of dendrology, he was diligent and eager to learn, lucky to meet good tutors, and had a well-rounded approach to his studies. As a dendrologist, he specialized in tree classification, focusing on gymnosperms, and expanding his academic boundaries from dendrology to forest geography. As a teacher of dendrology, he advocated cultivating virtue and talent, emphasized the cultivation of practical abilities, and implemented the feedback of scientific research in teaching. Professor Cheng Wan-chun regarded forest areas as the best laboratory of dendrology and personally visited forest areas such as West Tianmu Mountain in Zhejiang, Western Sichuan, and Lichuan in Hubei, collecting a large number of plant specimens, including types. Professor Cheng Wan-chun made many contributions to dendrology, discovering and naming one new family, five new genera, and 139 new species (including varieties). The most important contribution was the discovery of Metasequoia and the proposal of a classification system for gymnosperms.

Key words: Dendrology, field investigation, new species, Metasequoia glyptostroboide Hu et W.C. Cheng

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