Rare plants of China

Author: Xing Fawu, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-11-01
Features: The loss of biodiversity has become a global focus, with one significant reason being the insufficient understanding and popularization of biodiversity knowledge among people. In light of this, to popularize scientific knowledge of biodiversity and enhance public awareness of protecting biodiversity and human living environments, we invited experts from all over the country to conduct preliminary assessments of China's important rare plants and published this book. The main contents of this book include:
1. The introduction briefly introduces basic knowledge of biodiversity, including China's plant diversity, major threats to China's plant diversity and mechanisms of loss, classification of plant endangered levels, and conservation of plant diversity.
2. Each plant is introduced with its Chinese name, family name, scientific name, main morphological characteristics, geographic distribution and habitat, conservation value, and main uses, as well as its endangered level.
3. The book focuses on collecting 546 species of rare and endangered wild vascular plants from all over the country (including varieties), belonging to 159 families. The arrangement of families follows the system of Pteridophyta by Qin Renchang (1978), Gymnosperms by Zheng Wanjun (1978), and Angiosperms by Hutchinson's system. Genera and species are arranged in alphabetical order by Latin names.
4. The principles for including species in this book mainly consider the endangered status of the species in China, their scientific and economic value, and the selection of some rare species or those with important positions in plant systematic evolution. The determination of endangered levels is based on our years of fieldwork and relevant literature, using the new endangered species classification system of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 1994, including Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN), Vulnerable (VU), and Lower Risk (LR). Lower Risk includes Conservation Dependent (cd), Near Threatened (nt), and Least Concern (lc) as three subcategories.
5. The book includes 148 protected plants from the "List of Rare and Endangered Protected Plants of China" published by the State Environmental Protection Administration in 1984, including 5 national first-class protected plants. It also includes 118 protected plants from the "National Key Protected Wild Plants List" published by the State Forestry Administration and the Ministry of Agriculture in 1999, including 33 national first-class key protected plants. These are distinguished as "protected plants" and "key protected wild plants" in the text. If a plant is listed in both lists, the latter takes precedence, totaling 182 species.
6. The book includes 626 color photographs, all taken by the author during field surveys.
7. For easy reference, the book appendix includes the "National Key Protected Wild Plants List," main references, and indexes of Chinese names and scientific names. During the writing and publishing process, this book received cooperation and support from many scientific research and teaching institutions across the country, including the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Kunming Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Guangxi Institute of Botany, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Zhejiang University, Yunnan University, Shenzhen University, the Jiujiang Forest Plant Herbarium of the Jiangxi Academy of Sciences, the University of Hong Kong, and the CTFRB Botanic Garden in Hong Kong. Mr. Liu Bili and Mr. Xiong Yuxin of Hunan Education Press contributed significantly to the publication of this book. Here, we express our heartfelt gratitude to all the units and individuals who have contributed to the compilation and publication of this book.
As this book is about to be published, we sincerely hope that its publication will actively promote China's biodiversity conservation efforts and provide the general public, especially young people, with new knowledge about biodiversity. Due to limited expertise and tight deadlines, omissions or errors are inevitable. We kindly request feedback from our readers, experts, and friends.