A shrubby resprouting pine with serotinous cones endemic to southwest China

The Yunnan Province of China is wet and warm enough to support magnificent forests. However, many mountains in the region are covered by a shrubland formation dominated by an unusual pine, the shrubby and multi-stemmed Pinus yunnanensis (Yunnan pine; Fig. 1). This formation is natural, and not the product of forest degradation; and fire appears to be a major factor explaining the features of this pine. This region has a subtropical monsoon climate influenced by both the Indian Ocean Monsoon from the west, and the Pacific Ocean Monsoon from the east.