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Cover News Reporter Wu Xuemei Photo Report
It is a national first-class protected plant, a relict species of the Tertiary paleotropical flora of the Cenozoic Era 60 million years ago, and one of the famous "living fossils" in the plant world.
White dove blossoms in full bloom.
Recently, it is in the flowering period of dove tree. On April 18, the cover news reporter walked into the Silipo primeval forest in Wangjia Town, Jue County, Yibin City, Sichuan Province, to explore this secret land of mountains and forests. Starting from about 1,200 meters above sea level, many wild dove trees appear in front of you, and the dove trees bloom one after another, dancing with the wind, like a flock of pigeons spreading their wings and ready to fly. There are more than 20,000 dove trees growing in the primeval forest of Silipo, which bloom in April and May every year, mainly white dove trees, and a few green dove trees and extremely precious pink dove trees, which have both ornamental value and high scientific research value.
Wild dove blossoms bloom and flutter in the wind, like a flock of pigeons spreading their wings and ready to fly. (Photo by Zhuang Geer)
On the same day, in this forest, the reporter not only saw the precious dove flowers, but also met a group of flower seekers.
Tourist flower seekers: octogenarians come here
Just to witness the beauty of the dove flowers
In August 2023, at the closing ceremony of the Chengdu Universiade, the "pigeon tree" dove tree took the stage and attracted the attention of the world.
It grew in the early Tertiary of the Cenozoic Era 60 million years ago and belongs to the relict species of Tertiary paleotropical plants in the Tertiary Period. At that time, the dove tree and its family were still very prosperous and distributed all over the world. However, due to the advent of the Quaternary Ice Age, most of the areas of the dove tree were extinct, and only some of them were sheltered by the special topography of the mainland and were able to reproduce in the "small environment" of the southwest mountains of the mainland, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Hunan, Hubei, Gansu and other places. In Europe and other places, only fossils of dove trees have been found. Therefore, it also has a cute name overseas - "Chinese pigeon tree", also known as the "green" giant panda, the giant panda among plants. Therefore, the more than 20,000 dove trees in Jue County are very valuable, especially the unique more than 20 red dove trees with pink dove flowers are the most precious.
The pink flowers of the red dove tree are extremely rare.
It is a national first-class protected plant.
Over the years, many people have come here every year to enjoy the flowers. In order to make it easier for tourists to enjoy the flowers, the local area has built a trail in the buffer zone of the primeval forest of Silipo, so that everyone can walk into the forest and see the beauty of the dove flowers. Yang Yongjun, director of the state-owned forest farm in Jue County, told reporters that these days are in the flowering period, and a large number of tourists enjoy the flowers on foot every day.
Many tourists and photographers come to the forest to enjoy the flowers and hike. (Photo by Zhuang Geer)
On the way to climb the mountain, the reporter met the octogenarian Xiong Xianheng and his family members who accompanied him. Walking in the dense mountain forest, the mountain road is rugged, although Xiong Xianheng is faltering, he keeps climbing up, just to really see the blooming dove flowers.
The octogenarian Xiong Xianheng finally saw the dove tree.
Xiong Xianheng told reporters that he now lives in other places and worked in Jue County more than 40 years ago, but unfortunately, he has only heard of dove tung flowers, and has never seen them with his own eyes. Now that the road on the mountain was easier, he made up his mind to come and take a look. On the same day, he and his wife, accompanied by their son and daughter, drove for about three hours to the Silipo Sightseeing Parking Lot, and then hiked up the mountain.
After about 1 hour of hiking, when Xiong Xianheng saw the dove tree from afar, he couldn't wait to get close to the dove tree, admire the dove tree, and happily took out his mobile phone to take pictures to commemorate the occasion. He said that he was very happy to see the dove blossoms and fulfilled one of his long-standing wishes.
Scientific research flower seeker: The pink bud dove tree is very peculiar
Genetic analysis will be performed after collection
Further up the mountain, the reporter met the scientific research team of the Sichuan Provincial Forestry and Grassland Bureau and the Chengdu Botanical Garden under the dove tree, and they were conducting resource investigations. While collecting dove flowers, they recorded the inspection with their cameras.
"It is very peculiar and is one of the focuses of this scientific research. Li Fangwen, full-time deputy secretary of Chengdu Botanical Garden, told reporters that after arriving in Jue County yesterday, team members began to go up the mountain early in the morning to inspect the flowering of dove trees. He said that they saw at the scene that compared with the surrounding white-flowered dove trees, the difference between the leaf color and the bud color was very obvious. They collected the leaves, bracts, and stamens of the dove tree, and when they returned, they would conduct genetic analysis to see where the differences in the pink bracts came from and whether there were genetic variations.
Researchers are collecting specimens.
On the same day, the reporter saw green-looking tung flowers on the mountain. Li Fangwen said that this time they also saw the dove tree flower with green bracts, but it remains to be seen whether it will remain green all the time or gradually grow white in the later stage. This is because when the white dove flowers first bloom, they will be a pale yellow-green color, and as the flowers gradually mature, they will eventually grow into pure white. "Therefore, it remains to be seen whether the bracts of these green flowers will turn from green to white after the stamens are ripe. ”
Green bracts of dove flowers.
For the research and protection of dove flowers, Li Fangwen's Chengdu Botanical Garden has already achieved results. According to reports, there are more than 200 species of national key protected wild plants in Chengdu Botanical Garden, and dove tree is one of them. In April 2012, three trees from Mount Emei with flower buds were conserved in Chengdu Botanical Garden and bloomed that year. However, in the 11 years since, the dove tree has grown quietly here, but it has not bloomed again. Last year and this year, these dove trees began to bloom for two consecutive years, indicating that after 12 years, the dove trees finally adapted to the environment of Chengdu. Li Fangwen introduced that last year, the Chengdu Botanical Garden introduced some pink bud dove trees from Jue County, and if the domestication is successful, you can also see the pink "pigeon tree" in the future. They will increase the publicity of the protection of the dove tree, continue to do a good job in ex situ conservation, and strive to apply the research results while doing a good job in conservation.
According to the data, as one of the "living fossils of plants", in addition to the cultural value of symbolizing peace and the ornamental value of beautiful flowers and leaves, it also has high scientific research value. Because it first existed more than 60 million years ago, it has high scientific research value in the fields of paleobotan, paleoclimate, paleogeography and geology, as well as the study of paleoflora and phylogeny. In order to have a deeper understanding of the dove tree, the academic community has carried out research on ecology, physiology, ex situ conservation, artificial breeding technology, and molecular level research, which will help people better protect the dove tree and explore its value.
Local flower hunters: record the blooming of the dove tree
Protect the ancient trees and promote the hometown
From 1,200 meters above sea level to the 1,600-meter altitude mountain forest, you will see the dove trees all over the mountain, and the beautiful dove trees are in full bloom. At an altitude of about 1,500 meters, the reporter met Yang Banghong, a local photography enthusiast. At this time, he was operating a drone, aerial photography of the swaying tung trees with the sun.
Yang Banghong, a photography enthusiast, stood next to the dove tree and photographed the dove tree.
Yang Banghong, a 50-year-old villager from Wangjia Town, has been going up the mountain every day to photograph the blooming process of the tung trees in the blooming season for more than a decade. In many cases, he will also volunteer to lead the way for tourists, and at the same time do a good job of forest fire prevention and other publicity. He said that this year, he has been going up the mountain to photograph the tung flowers for 18 consecutive days, basically going up the mountain at 3 p.m. every day, and starting to go down after 6 p.m. after the shooting. "Sometimes I come across a tree with a good shape, and I can take more than 1 hour. So far, he has stored tens of thousands of photos of tung flowers in his mobile phone.
For Yang Banghong, photographing the dove tree flower and recording its growth is on the one hand a love for photography, and on the other hand, a love for the dove tree and his hometown. Nowadays, he often posts his photographs of tung blossoms on online platforms for everyone to enjoy, and also hopes to promote his hometown.
In Jue County, there are many people like Yang Banghong, who record the growth of dove flowers and love their hometown and their hometown. Together with the local authorities, year after year, they guard these rare tree species, protect nature, and hope that the tung blossoms will bloom again.
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