Ancient Trees Thrive on Sacred Ground

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Jacey Fortin, Ancient Trees, Dwindling in the Wild, Thrive on Sacred Ground. New York Times, June 10, 2025, at page D2 (every Tuesday, section D is ScienceTimes; this article is under the heading "Divine Horticulture")

Note:
(a) "The Putuo hornbeam * * * [in] the Huiji Temple on an island in the Zhejiang Province. * ** The holdout on the island, Mount Putuo, has been there for about two centuries. And according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Current Biology, its setting may have been its salvation. * * * Zhiyao Tang, a professor of ecology at Peking University and one of the study's authors."
(i)
(A) Mount Putuo  普陀山
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Putuo
("is an island in Putuo District, Zhoushan, Zhejiang, China. It is a renowned site in Chinese Buddhism and is the bodhimaṇḍa [道場] of the bodhisattva Guanyin.   Mount Putuo is one of the four sacred mountains in Chinese Buddhism * * * After the Tang dynasty, Mount Putuo became a center of Guanyin worship.[4] Traditionally there were three main temples: the Puji Temple (普濟寺, founded in 10th century), the Fayu Temple (法雨寺, founded 1580 CE), and the Huiji Temple (慧濟寺, founded 1793 CE)")
(B) "普陀山，是中华人民共和国浙江省舟山群岛中的一个岛屿，也是中国四大佛教名山之一，是观音菩萨的道场"  zh.wikipedia.org for 普陀山
(C) map with 舟山群岛 in orange (attached below)
(ii) Carpinus putoensis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpinus_putoensis
(Putuo hornbeam, Chinese: 普陀鹅耳枥; "It is monoecious" 雌雄同体)

English dictionary:
* monoecious (adj; literally meaning 'one house,' from Ancient Greek [adjective masculine] μόνος (romanization: mónos) alone, solitary +‎ [noun masculine] οἶκος (romanixation: oîkos) house)
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/monoecious
(pronunciation)
(iv) College of Urban and Environmental Sciences 北京大学城市与环境学院   博雅特聘教授 Boya Distinguished Professor  Zhiyao Tang 唐志尧

(b) "Above, an old ginkgo tree at the Guanyin Temple in northwest China's Shaanxi Province."

千年銀杏樹位於陝西省西安市长安区羅漢洞村觀音禪寺內. The NYT print has a photo whose credit is "LIU XIAO/ XINHUA, VIA GETTY IMAGES."
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The Putuo hornbeam, a hardy tree that thrives in the damp air by the East China Sea, could be easily overlooked by visitors to the Huiji Temple on an island in the Zhejiang Province.

The tree has an unremarkable appearance: spotty bark, small stature, and serrated leaves with veins as neatly spaced as notebook lines. But its status is singular. As far as conservationists can tell, no other mature specimen of its species is alive in the wild.

The holdout on the island, Mount Putuo, has been there for about two centuries. And according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Current Biology, its setting may have been its salvation.

The study found that religious sites in eastern China have become refuges for old, ancient, and endangered trees. Since the early years of the Common Era, Buddhist and Taoist temples have sheltered plants that otherwise struggled to find a foothold, including at least eight species that now exist nowhere else on earth.

"This form of biodiversity conservation, rooted in cultural and traditional practices, has proven to be remarkably resilient, persisting even in the face of modern civilization and rapid economic development," said Zhiyao Tang, a professor of ecology at Peking University and one of the study's authors. (Above, an old ginkgo tree at the Guanyin Temple in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.)

The trees survived at religious sites in part because they were planted and cultivated there. The report noted that Buddhism and Taoism emphasize spiritual association with plants and the temples tended to be left undisturbed, shielding the areas from deforestation.

The report noted that Buddhism and Taoism emphasize spiritual association with plants and the temples tended to be left undisturbed, shieldingthe areas from deforestation.