Abstract: The cone setting rate and seed characteristics of Pinus dabeshanensis were analyzed under four different artificial treatments including natural pollination, bagging without pollination, bagging pollination with the same plant and bagging pollination with different plants. The results showed that different plants in bagging pollination had 100.0% seed setting rate and 50.0 full seeds per cone which was significantly higher than other treatments; plants in natural pollination had 97.5% seed setting rate and 30.9 full seeds per cone; the same plants in bagging pollination had 80.0% seed setting rate and 3.2 full seeds per cone; while plants without pollination had only 17.5% seed setting rate and no full seeds at all. This study provided an important theory in clarifying the reproductive mechanism and formulating scientific conservation strategies for this endangered species.

Key words: Pinus dabeshanensis, artificial pollination, seed setting rate, seed characteristic, reproductive mechanism