Abstract: The dry mass,water holding capacity,proportional water holding capacity of crown debris and litter were measured in a Cunninghamia lanceolata stand suffered from ice damage.The dry mass of stems,branches,leaves,bark of the broken crown and litter were 11.42,7.03,5.76,1.78,5.93 t·hm^-2,respectively.The order of maximum water holding capacity of the components was stem(11.83 t·hm^-2)> leaves(11.24 t·hm^-2)>litter(10.88 t·hm^-2)> branches(6.73 t·hm^-2)> bark(2.38 t·hm^-2).The proportional water holding capacity as a percentage of dry mass in the components were 295%,272%,234%,196% and 193% for leaves,litter,bark,branches and stem,respectively.Water absorption rate of the components quickly decreased with increasing immersed time from the initial 0.5 to 6 hours and then decreased slowly.The total water holding capacity and proportional water holding capacity of thecomponents increased logarithmically with increasing time immersed in water,whereas water absorption rates of components decreased according to negative exponential equation with increasing time immersed in water.

Key words: Cunninghamia lanceolata, crown debris, litter, water holding capacity, water holding rate, water absorption rate