Northeast China's Liaoning Province has established a zone to protect glehnia littoralis -- a rare wild herb facing extinction due to environmental degradation, said provincial government officials.
Scientists said the herb was withering away because coastal beaches, the herb's habitat, had been seriously ruined by over development.
Based on scientists' suggestions, the protection zone will be located in Huludao city.
Scientists found a few specimens of the herb in Huludao and 13 in Xingcheng, another city in Liaoning, last year.
Glehnia littoralis has only been found in these two places and it could possibly perish unless effective efforts were made immediately, according to scientists.
Glehnia littoralis is shaped like an umbrella and seen in China's north and southeast coasts and on the Korean Peninsula, Japan and Russia. It can be used as food or medicine when ground into powder.
In the protection zone, specialists will monitor the environment and improve natural conditions.
(Xinhua News Agency April 16, 2003)
