Golden Camellia as a Driver of Forest Regeneration and Conservation: A Case Study of Value-Chain Forestry with Camellia quephongensis in Que Phong, Nghe An, North-Central Vietnam.

Golden camellia is a highly valued commercial plant owing to its flowers' medicinal substances. One species of golden camellia, Camellia quephongensis Hakoda et Ninh, is used as a non-timber forest product for value-chain forestry (VCF) in Que Phong District, Nghe An Province, North-Central Vietnam; its production and sale is an important business activity which contributes substantially to local livelihood improvement. According to previous studies and in situ observation, golden camellias, including C. quephongensis, inhabit regenerated forests, especially along streams and rivers. This encourages VCF with C. quephongensis to function as a driver of forest regeneration and conservation. However, the ecological aspect of this species in regenerated forests is poorly understood. Thus, this study aimed to determine this species' growth patterns and population expansion during forest regeneration. We surveyed the morphological characteristics of this species at different ages in several populations, and revealed that the plants reached a tree height of 150 cm and started blooming eight years after germination. Comparing C. quephongensis-populations inhabiting different succession-staged forests, we observed that the population in long-term regenerated forests was significantly larger and had a pyramid-shaped age distribution pattern to possibly expand its population size. Based on this, we conclude that C. quephongensis is a good indicator of forest regeneration and contributes to local livelihoods and forest regeneration and conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]