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Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
A variety of rare plants bloom in Kunming Botanical Garden
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Very small population of wild plant agarwood
Recently, the agarwood in the Fuli Palace of the Kunming Botanical Garden, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences has bloomed. Soil agarwood is an evergreen tall tree of the genus Agarwood of the Ruixiang family, also known as honey fragrance tree and white wood incense, which is the main raw material plant of traditional precious spice agarwood.
There are two species of agarwood in the mainland, earth agarwood and Yunnan agarwood. In the Kunming Botanical Garden's Leaf View Orchard, there is also a plant called Yunnan soil agarwood, although the name has the word "soil agarwood", but it is a woody plant of the Euphorbiaceae family Sea Lacquer, and there is no kinship with the agarwood genus that produces agarwood.
Agarwood is listed as a national second-class key protected wild plant, one of the 62 target species in the Outline for the Rescue and Protection of Species with Very Small Populations in Yunnan Province (2010-2020) and the Emergency Action Plan (2010-2015), and was assessed as endangered in the Red List of Biodiversity of China - Volume of Higher Plants (2020).
In 2016, the research team of the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences found that the strategy of spreading seeds of agarwood is similar to that of Dabaibu, and the seeds carrying oleosomes are like the prey of wasps, and the wasps will attack the seeds of agarwood like prey, and take away the oleosomes and discard the seeds after "hunting", and inadvertently spread the seeds.
Soil agarwood
In 2022, the scientific research team of the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted an in-depth study and found that the fruit pods of Agarwood can release 14 kinds of volatile components similar to those released after the leaves are eaten by pests, which quickly attracts the wasps to come over to feed, and the wasps can tear off the seeds from the slender linear structure and take them away in 1 minute at the earliest.
Several studies have shown that the seeds can be transported at a distance of up to 400 meters or even 500 meters, and the wasps play a key role in the process of seed dispersal, which may be an important guarantee for the recalcitrant seed characteristics of agarwood plants in the evolutionary history. In addition, scientists have also observed that yellow lynx ants visit the seeds of agarwood and are the only visiting insects except for three species of wasps.
Very small population of the wild plant redbud wood
Recently, the very small population of wild plant Bauhinia introduced and planted in the Fuligong greenhouse group of Kunming Botanical Garden, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, bloomed for the first time, marking the initial success of the ex situ conservation of Bauhinia in Kunming Botanical Garden.
Bauhinia wood, also known as Yunnan Bauhinia wood, Yunnan peanut, milk wood, can reach 30 meters high, grows in the tropical monsoon region of southeast Guangxi, southern Guangxi, southeast Yunnan, Guizhou Libo and other places below 1400 meters above sea level in mixed forests or mountain forest edges, also distributed in Vietnam. The flowering period is from June to September, the flowers are clustered in the leaf axils, the taste is fragrant, and the peduncle is rusty or gray pubescent; The fruit period is from October to January of the following year, the fruit is oval, the skin is thick, and the taste is sweet and edible when ripe; Seeds 1-5, cotyledons purplish-red.
Redbud is a rare oil tree species and a precious timber tree species, which is worthy of vigorous promotion and can be used as an important national strategic reserve resource. The oil content of the kernel is high, up to 45%, and the taste is edible; The bark contains tannins, which can be used as a raw material for tannin; The trunk is rich in white milk, from which hard rubber is extracted. In the northern region of Vietnam, redbud is widely used in furniture and veneer manufacturing. Bauhinia also has high medicinal value, its leaves contain a variety of active ingredients, and the methanol extract of the leaves has a significant inhibitory effect on macrophages, with anti-inflammatory effects.
Bauhinia has a long lifespan in natural dense forests, and it is found in Dawei Mountain, Pingbian, Yunnan Province, which is more than 120 years old. At present, Redbud is listed as a national second-class key protected wild plant, and one of the target species of the National Plan for the Conservation of Wild Plants with Very Small Populations (2011-2015), the Outline of the Planning for the Rescue and Conservation of Species with Very Small Populations in Yunnan Province (2010-2020) and the Emergency Action Plan (2010-2015), and the "14th Five-Year Plan" for the Rescue and Protection of Wild Plants with Very Small Populations.
It is reported that scholars at home and abroad have carried out a number of studies on the distribution, in situ conservation, ex situ conservation, genomics, chemical composition, and artificial cultivation of Bauhinia wood, but it is still in its infancy. In the context of severe global climate change, it is necessary to conduct in-depth research on artificial cultivation technology, establish a breeding system of Bauhinia tree, and scientifically formulate protection strategies to achieve effective protection of Bauhinia wood.
Precious tree material Phoebe zhejiangensis
A few days ago, another rare and endangered tree species unique to the mainland, P. zhejiangensis, bloomed for the first time in the Kunming Botanical Garden, Kunming Botanical Garden, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, marking the initial success of the ex situ conservation of P. zhejiang.
Zhejiang
Phoebe zhejiangensis is a famous precious tree in the south of the mainland, a national second-class key protected wild plant, belonging to the genus Lauraceae, a tall evergreen broad-leaved tree, and is a new species discovered by Professor Xiang Qibai, a famous plant taxonomist in the mainland in Tianmu Mountain and Longtang Mountain in Zhejiang Province in the 60s of the 20th century.
The economic value and scientific research value of P. zhejiangnan are relatively high. The trunk is straight, the tree shape is beautiful, and the branches and leaves are luxuriant, which is a good tree species for urban greening. The wood is tough and dense, shiny and fragrant, and not perishable, and is a world-famous and precious timber species. At present, Phoebe zhejiangensis is listed as a national second-class key protected wild plant.
Zhejiang
The ex-situ conservation population of P. zhejiangensis in Kunming Botanical Garden was introduced from the Zhoushan Academy of Forestry in Zhejiang Province in April 2016, with a total of 7 plants, which were planted in the special garden of wild plants with very small populations. At the initial stage of planting, the average ground diameter of P. zhejiang's seedlings was only 0.4 cm, and the average plant height was only 0.45 m. In the past 8 years, Phoebe zhejiangensis has been well adaptable and the plant has grown healthily, and the data collected in 2022 shows that the average ground diameter of the plant grows to 5.3 cm, and the average plant height grows to 2.26 m. Recently, some of the plants have bloomed for the first time, which means that the ex situ conservation of this species in the Kunming Botanical Garden has achieved initial success, and the average ground diameter of the seven plants has reached 7.7 cm, and the average plant height has reached 3.69 m. In the future, the Kunming Botanical Garden will pay further attention to and conduct in-depth research on whether it can bear fruit normally and the development of seeds, and make efforts to protect and utilize this rare and endangered tree species.
Source: Yunnan Net Written by: Tao Lian Tang Lingyun
Source: Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Propaganda Department of Kunming Municipal Party Committee