Ex-situ conservation works!

Ex-situ conservation works! Qiaojia five-needle pine bears fruit for the first time in Kunming Botanical Garden

Ex-situ conservation works! Qiaojia Five Needle Pine is the first to be sturdy in Kunming Botanical Garden and ex situ conservation works! Qiaojia five-needle pine bears fruit for the first time in Kunming Botanical Garden

Science and Technology Daily reporter Zhao Hanbin 

There are only 34 wild individuals in existence.
The national Ⅰ-level key protected wild plant Pinus chinensis has been assessed as "critically endangered" by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and listed as one of the 100 most endangered species in the world
.

On August 11, the reporter learned from the Kunming Botanical Garden that the Qiaojia five-needle pine in the garden has grown for the first time, marking the initial success of the ex-situ conservation of Qiaojia five-needle pine in the Kunming Botanical Garden

Qiaojia five-needle pine is an evergreen tree of the genus Pinaceae.
Its bark is white, needles are 5 needles, and the cone scales grow on the back.
It has the characteristics of white bark pine and five-needle pine.
It is also called "five-needle pine "It is a new species published only in 1992.
Its plant type is straight, branches and leaves are whirling, and it has high ornamental value
.

"This species is only distributed in a mountain depression about 2000 meters above sea level in Yunnan Yaoshan National Nature Reserve, Qiaojia County, Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province.
The existing wild population is extremely small.
It is not only one of the 100 most endangered species in the world, but also is listed as extremely small populations of wild plants protection of national priority and Yunnan
.

" Zhong Keyuan Kunming Institute of Botany very small wild populations comprehensive protection team leader, director of the Kunming botanical Garden Sun Weibang researchers said, Pinus squamata have so many "Title", coupled with extremely poor natural renewal ability, has attracted a lot of attention and touched the hearts of many people

Zhong ASTRI ASTRI

Since the discovery of this species in 1990, scientific research and rescue protection have been carried out under the cooperation and efforts of multiple parties.
After the implementation of multiple protection projects, all wild individuals have been numbered and GPS positioning of individual plants has been carried out for their growth and development.
The situation and vegetation communities have been monitored for a long time, and artificially bred more than 5,000 seedlings, of which 2281 plants were returned and repopulated in Qiaojia County, 798 plants were planted in ex-situ conservation sites in Qiaojia County such as Kunming and Dali, and another 2,000 were planted.
The remaining seedlings and saplings are kept in the nursery
.

"The population size of Qiaojia five-needle pine has been greatly increased, and the risk of extinction has been greatly reduced

It is reported that the Kunming Botanical Garden has ex-situ preserved more than 50 Qiaojia five-needle pine trees, which were planted in two batches in 2012 and 2016 in the gymnosperm botanical garden and the special garden of very small population wild plants
.

With an altitude of nearly 2,000 meters, the plants adapt well and grow rapidly