Plants as Rare as Giant Pandas Are in Chongqing

By Xinyi Li, EDITOR

Earth is the shared homeland of human beings and countless wild animals and plants alike. Currently, there are nine kinds of Grade-I wild plants under the special protection of China, and they are as rare as giant pandas.

Wild Cathaya argyrophylla

Highlights: Rare in number. The amount of grown trees, over one meter high, doesn't exceed 1,200 worldwide. Over 400 of them are growing in Chongqing.

Wild Cathaya argyrophylla is confined to some limited areas in China exclusively, and people value it as the “living fossil” and “giant panda of plants”. The wild grown Cathaya argyrophylla is very rare. They are mainly grown in Nanchuan District and Wulong District of Chongqing. In Nanchuan District, Mount Jinfo (Gold Buddha Mountain) is the most concentrated and northernmost distribution area of this plant.

Wild Davidia involucrata

Wild Davidia involucrata var. vilmoriniana

Highlights: These flowers are like doves. In the gentle breezes, the white-flower-decorated tree will be like a resting place of flocks of doves. The public has commonly recognized it as one of the best-received ornamental plants in China.

Davidia involucrata will be full of blossom in April and May. The dove-like white flowers win it the name of “dove tree”. Davidia involucrata var. vilmoriniana is one of its varieties, with different leaf forms. Over the past hundreds of years, wild Davidia involucrata has witnessed several rounds of climate shifts on earth. Currently, the wild types are extremely rare  and very valuable. In Chongqing, only a few of them are distributed in Nanchuan, Chengkou, Wushan, Wuxi, Fengjie, Youyang, Qianjiang, and other districts and counties.

Wild Taxus chinensis

Wild Taxus chinensis var. mairei

Highlights: Wild Taxus chinensis (commonly known as Chinese yew) is used to treat cancer and is under special protection by law.

It is a unique species in China. As one of the varieties, Taxus chinensis var. mairei also has different leaf forms. The world has recognized the Chinese yew as a rare and important plant to treat cancer. As an age-old variety of tree existed in the Quaternary Glacier, Chinese yews have lived on earth for around 2.5 million years. It can be found in most districts and counties of Chongqing and is mainly distributed along the Yangtze River in Northeast Chongqing, Wuling Mountain and Mount Jinfo in Southeast Chongqing.

Wild Ginkgo biloba

Highlights: Though the artificial cultivation of this kind of tree is relatively common, wild Ginkgo biloba has completely different genes from the artificially-cultivated kinds. This tree species serves as the recorder and witness of climate change on earth.

It is the eldest relic plant in the gymnosperm kind after the movement in the Quaternary glaciation period. Now, the living Ginkgo biloba is scarce in number and scattering in distribution. The southern foothill of Mount Jinfo is the most concentrated native site of wild Ginkgo biloba in the world, with thousands of trees of this kind, small and big, growing there.

Wild Metasequoia glyptostroboides

Highlights: As for Metasequoia glyptostroboides, though the manually-cultivated types are already common, the wild ones are still rare in nature.

As a time-honored and treasurable tree variety, it is unique to China, whose distribution areas are only limited in Shizhu (Chongqing), Lichuan (Hubei), Northwest Hunan, etc. In Huangshui Town, Shizhu County, “China’s No.1 Native Metasequoia glyptostroboides Tree” is honored as the “top treasure” of Huangshui National Forest Park for its exceptional height, diameter, and crown nationwide.

Bretschneidera or Bole Tree

Highlights: Bole Tree is rarer than Bo Le, a metaphor of the wise ruler selecting geniuses in obscurity. Bole Tree in Chinese characters originates from the transliteration of “Bretschneidera”. When it is in full blossom in early summer, the flowers, sharing the color of rosy clouds, on the trees are eye-catching. It is a unique and age-old relict species, which is the only one in the genus. One special characteristic is that only after being covered by leaves for a year can the seed finally germinate.

Unique to China, it is another relic plant of the Tertiary period and the only species of Bretschneider-aceae. Its evolution reveals the changes in ancient climates and geology. We only know that this tree type is distributed on Jinyun Mountain in Beibei District of Chongqing. In China, they are also growing in small groups in mountainous areas by the south of the Yangtze River.

Glyptostrobus pensilis

Highlights: It is an ancient relic plant. After the Quaternary glaciation, this species went extinct in Europe, America, and other regions. Today, it mainly grows in China, and the number of wild Glyptostrobus pensilis is less than 1,000.

Currently, this tree kind is distributed in Jiangjin and Kaizhou. Its existence is of great scientific value in studying the development of Taxodi-aceae plant system and the climate shifts during the Quaternary glaciation period.

In addition to the above-introduced nine Grade-I wild plants under the special state protection in Chongqing, the existing information also shows that there are about 72 species of national-class key protected vertebrates (aquatic and terricolous kinds included), 13 species of Grade-I key protected animals and 59 species of Grade-II key protected animals.

Source: Chongqing Broadcast Group