Plantago erosa var.fengdouensis, a rare plant that was dubbed
the "floral panda", was saved from extinction by researchers in
central China's Wuhan. The researchers have mastered the artificial
propagation of these plants.
This photo, published on
January 7 shows a cluster of the rare plant Plantago erosa
var.fengdouensis.
The local Chutian Metropolis Daily said that before the
researchers announced their achievement, there were media reports
saying that there were only 27 such plants around the globe.
"We have reproduced hundreds of this plant using artificial
measures," Wang Yong, a doctor from Wuhan Botanical Garden was
quoted as saying.
These plants were discovered by experts on an isle in the
Yangtze River in April 2001 and they named the plants "Plantago
erosa var.fengdouensis" after they were identified as a new
variation of the Plantago erosa Wall.
These plants were also distributed on the other two isles in the
river, Wang added.
Plantago erosa var.fengdouensis belongs to the plantaginaceae
family and has jagged-edged indented leaves. They usually grow in
small clusters, according to the description by Wang.
To protect the plants from the flooding season of the reservoir,
researchers have moved the plants to the botanical garden but few
of them survived. From 2001 to 2007, the population of the plant
shrank from 290 to 27.
The seeds of the plants are comparatively larger than other
fellow species, which makes natural propagation through wind or
water very hard, the doctor analyzed.
Starting in 2004, the experts from the garden have been doing
experiments on the collected seeds and finally made a breakthrough
by grasping the technique of artificially reproducing the
plants.
The garden will have at least 1,000 Plantago erosa
var.fengdouensis growing in 2012.
(CRI January 8, 2008)
