Chenshan rare birch species bears fruit for the first time
Print Edition
Carpinus putoensis Cheng, a rare species nicknamed “the Earth only son” because of its rarity, bore fruits for the first time at its offspring plants at Chenshan Botanical Garden in Songjiang District recently.
The species, a tall deciduous tree belonging to the birch family, was first spotted by botanist Zhong Guanguang on Putuo Island of Zhoushan City in neighboring Zhejiang Province in 1930. In 1932 silviculturist Zheng Wanjun named it Carpinus putoensis Cheng and published its discovery as an extremely endangered plant species in China.
The species had its only wild plant on the Earth at that time. Since its maternal tree was more than 250 years old, the species failed to accomplish a natural succession.
Carpinus putoensis Cheng was listed as one of the 12 most endangered plants on the planet by the Species Survival Commission in 1987. And in 1999 and 2021, respectively, the List of National Key Protected Wild Plants in China listed it as a national protected plant.
In the past 40 years researchers have done many studies on pollination and breeding of the species. Chenshan Botanical Garden, in particular, developed pollen deep-freezing, artificial pollination and stratified seed vernalization to increase the sprouting rate of the species and has acquired nearly 200 seedlings, which were planted at appropriated spots in the garden.
Through more than ten years of industrious cultivation and caring, the seedlings bloomed for the first time in April 2021, but didn’t bear fruits that year. In April this year, they bloomed for the second time. On May 12, gardeners of Chenshan Botanical Garden did their daily monitoring and found 30 percent of the plants had born fruits. Further studies will be carried on to monitor the fruit and seed conditions.
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