Steep cliffs and shaded ravines in southern Taiwan provide the exclusive refuge for Amentotaxus yunnanensis var. formosana.
This rare variety grows in warm-temperate rainforest understories, preferring highly humid conditions. It is highly protected due to its critically low population size in the wild.
The plant grows as a small evergreen tree reaching up to 10 meters in height, with a greyish-brown bark. Its leaves are linear, coriaceous, and slightly curved, featuring two broad, white stomatal bands on their abaxial surface. Female plants produce large, drupe-like seeds enclosed in an aril that turns reddish-purple at maturity.
The seeds are often dispersed by small mammals that eat the fleshy aril. Because of its limited distribution and low reproductive rate, this gymnosperm is considered a relict species from the Tertiary period.
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