Rare plants reintroduced into China's Three Gorges Reservoir area

On March 12, National Tree Planting Day, 3,000 artificially bred endangered plants were reintroduced into the wild on an islet on the Yangtze River in Zigui County, Yichang City, central China's Hubei Province.

The rare plants, which include 2,000 Plantago fengdouensis and 1,000 Myricaria laxiflora, are endemic to the drawdown zone of the Yangtze River and can adapt to the periodic wet and dry cycle in the drawdown zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir, as they are highly resistant to flooding and drought.

"The reason we choose these two plants is that their natural habitat is on the islet of the river. Through planting them back in the wild, we can not only increase their population in the wild but also consolidate the soil and protect the shore of the Yangtze River, which helps restore the biodiversity of the Yangtze River basin," said Zhu Haofei, a researcher at the Yangtze River Biodiversity Research Center.

First discovered in Fengdu County in China's Chongqing Municipality in 2001, Plantago fengdouensis has a limited distribution area and was once considered extinct in the wild. In 2022, around 4,000 Plantago fengdouensis seeds were taken aboard the Shenzhou-13 manned spacecraft into space. The 500 pots of Plantago fengdouensis planted on March 12 are the second generation bred from the seeds that traveled back from space. Tuesday's tree planting exercise was the first time they were being reintroduced into the wild.

"The purpose of sending the seeds of Plantago fengdouensis into space was to study the mutations that could be induced by radiation. We hope to increase its genetic diversity, select varieties that have a stronger adaptability and reintroduce them into the wild to expand its wild group and restore degraded areas," said Zhu.

In recent decades, the Yangtze River Biodiversity Research Center has rescued and protected 1,950 species of endemic and rare plants endemic to the Yangtze River basin, including Myricaria laxiflora and Adiantum nelumboides, overcoming breeding problems of nearly 100 rare plants.

(Cover image via CFP)