The Genus currently contains
only one species and was named in honor of Père Armand David, one of
the most prolific of the French missionary plant explorers. It was
believed to have been extinct after the glacial era, however, in late
19th century some specimens were found in Sichuan, China.
Scientific Name: Davidia involucrata
From Wiki:这段历史好玩。 1905很晚啊。 一个科的唯一种!
The species was introduced from China to Europe and North America in 1904, and is a popular ornamental tree in larger gardens. Most trees in cultivation are var. vilmoriniana, which has proved much better able to adapt to the climatic conditions in Europe and North America.
The genus Davidia is named after Father Armand David (1826–1900), ("Père David"), a French Vincentian[disambiguation needed] missionary and keen naturalist who lived in China, and who is also commemorated in the Chinese White PinePinus armandii and Père David's Deer. He was also the first westerner to describe another rare Chinese endemic, the Giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca).
Although it was David who first described the tree in 1905, a single
tree found at over 2,000 metres altitude, his specimens were lost in a
boat wreck on the Han River rapids. Scottish plant hunter Augustine Henry again found a single tree, this time in the YangtseIchang gorges and sent the first specimen to Kew Gardens. Plant collector Ernest Henry Wilson was employed by Sir Harry Veitch
to find Henry's tree but arrived to find that it had been felled for
building purposes; however he later found a grove of the trees
overhanging a sheer drop. Wilson too had his boat wrecked but managed to
save his Davidia specimens.[3]