White doves flying in the sun - Chinese Dove Tree

（国家一级重点保护植物）

(First-Grade State Protection Plant)

珙桐（拉丁学名：Davidia involucrata Baill）为落叶乔木。可生长到15~25米高，叶子广卵形，边缘有锯齿。本科植物只有一属两种，两种相似，只是一种叶面有毛，另一种光叶珙桐是光面。色花奇美，是1000万年前新生代第三纪留下的孑遗植物，在第四纪冰川时期，大部分地区的珙桐相继灭绝，只有在中国南方的一些地区幸存下来，成为了植物界今天的“活化石”，被誉为“中国的鸽子树”，又称“鸽子花树”、“水梨子”，野生种只生长在中国西南四川省和中部湖北省和陕西省周边地区。

Chinese Dove Tree (Scientific Latin Name: Davidia involucrata Baill) is a deciduous arbor, 15–25m high and has wide ovoid leaves with jagged edges. There are only one genus and two species in this family, both of which are similar except that one has a hairy leaf and the other is a glossy leaf. Its flowers are especially beautiful. It's a relict from the Cenozoic Tertiary Period 10 million years ago.In the Quaternary Glacial Period, Davidia involucrata became extinct in most areas, and only in some areas of southern China, it survived and became the "living fossil" of the plant kingdom, known as the "Chinese Dove Tree", "Dove Flower Tree" and "Water Pear Tree".The wild species only grows in Sichuan Province in southwest Chinaand the surrounding areas of Hubei Province and Shaanxi Province in central China.