Recently, the National Botanical Garden at the foot of Xiangshan Mountain in Beijing has become a popular punch in place. The national botanical garden, officially unveiled on April 18, is divided into South and north gardens. Based on the existing conditions of the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (South Garden) and the Beijing Botanical Garden (North Garden), it is organically integrated through capacity expansion and efficiency enhancement, with a total planning area of nearly 600 hectares. During the spring flower viewing period, tulips and other bulbous flowers in the North Garden of the national botanical garden are blooming and colorful. More than 200 kinds of peonies are in full bloom one after another. The sea of flowers with a wide variety attracts tourists to stop and watch frequently; More than 2000 tropical and subtropical plants are collected and displayed in the exhibition greenhouse of the South Park. Tourists can see the rare plants introduced and collected from all over the world, such as red skin monkey bread tree, heqimei antler fern and so on

As a comprehensive organization focusing on ex situ protection of plant resources and plant scientific research, with four functions of scientific communication and garden and horticulture display, what are the highlights of the national botanical garden? Let’s follow the footsteps of reporters.

There are more than 15000 species of ex situ protected plants

Six national flower germplasm resource banks have been established

Five million representative plant specimens from five continents will be collected

What are you look at? Feel the different charm of Botany and horticulture in the north and south gardens

“Both the South Garden and the North Garden have a long history of development and have formed their own characteristics. In the north and south gardens, tourists can feel the different charm of Botany and horticulture respectively.” Ye Jianfei, senior engineer of national botanical garden and Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, told reporters.

The plant collection of South Garden is mainly wild plants, with the largest Herbarium, exhibition greenhouse, Rosaceae plant area, Fagaceae plant area, wild fruit tree area in Asia. How are wild plants classified in botany? What kinds of plants are there in China? In Nanyuan, you can find answers to these questions.

In the herbarium of Nanyuan, there are 2.87 million collections of bryophytes, ferns, gymnosperms, angiosperms, seed specimens and fossil plant specimens, showing the evolution and diversity of plants. Walking into the South Garden Exhibition Greenhouse, on the east side of the greenhouse, ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms are displayed in turn according to the order of plant origin; According to different water conditions, the west side of the greenhouse simulates different environments from tropical desert to forest, wetland and lake, showing different plants such as succulent plants, trees and aquatic plants. The unique exhibition arrangement presents visitors with the time and space journey of plants.

Ye Jianfei said: “Nanyuan is the oldest comprehensive plant science research institution in China. The collection and display of specimens, living plants and seeds are based on the strong support of botanical research. Here, tourists can feel a strong scientific atmosphere.” Visiting the South Garden in sequence is like reading a textbook on the history of plant evolution. Visitors can feel the process of plant evolution, as well as the similarities and differences of each kind of plants.

Based on wild plants, what horticultural domestication and development have people carried out? What varieties have been cultivated? Visitors can get an intuitive feeling from the horticultural exhibition in the North Garden.

Enter from the west gate of Beiyuan Park and walk along the main road. You can visit peony exhibition area, peony garden, Begonia Garden and other parks on both sides of the road. Wang Kang, curator of the National Botanical Garden Science Museum, said that the main feature of the North Garden is the collection and display of horticultural plants. There are the world’s most outstanding rose garden, Begonia Garden with the right to register international Begonia varieties, as well as a wide variety of artificially cultivated roses, peach blossoms and other plants, which are very suitable for horticultural lovers to visit.

At present, more than 15000 species of plants have been collected in the north and South parks, and six national flower germplasm resource banks such as peony, water lily and wild fern have been built.

“The national botanical garden can be said to be a museum about plants. From plant specimens, living plants to seeds, the collection of these rich species is its’ collection specimens’.” Ye Jianfei said that in the national botanical garden, people can understand and understand plants and have close contact with nature. The national botanical garden is a “living prop” for science communication. It is not only a living textbook and educational practice base, but also an ideal place for gardening, viewing and recreation.

According to the statistics of Ma honeycomb, with the unveiling of the national botanical garden, the search popularity of the “National Botanical Garden” on the platform has increased by more than 66%. National botanical garden route, National Botanical Garden tickets, National Botanical Garden strategy and other related searches have increased in popularity to varying degrees.

Why? Promote ex situ conservation of endangered wild plants

Baihuashan grape, a rare and endangered plant unique to Beijing, was once the “loneliest” grape in the world. As there are only two wild individuals, Baihuashan grape is only one step away from extinction. “Through ex situ protection, the South Garden of the national botanical garden has successfully bred a number of seedlings, which provides a guarantee for the survival and continuation of the species.” Lin Qinwen, senior engineer of national botanical garden and Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, told reporters.

The endangered status of Baihuashan grape is not an example. Due to habitat destruction, over exploitation, climate change, invasion of alien species, limited self reproduction and other factors, some wild plants are on the verge of extinction and need to be effectively protected and saved.

In October 2021, at the leaders’ summit of the 15th Conference of the parties to the Convention on biological diversity, China proposed to start the construction of national botanical garden systems in Beijing, Guangzhou and other countries based on the principle of integrating in-situ protection and ex situ protection.

Zhou Zhihua, deputy director of the animal and plant Department of the national forestry and grass administration, pointed out that the construction of a nature reserve system with national parks as the main body is the main form of in-situ protection, and the construction of a botanical garden system led by the national botanical garden is the main form of ex situ protection. Both are indispensable and organically complementary, forming a relatively complete biodiversity protection system in China.

With a huge geographical span and diverse landform and climate, China is one of the countries with the richest plant diversity in the world, with about 37000 species of higher plants. Zhou Zhihua said that the National Botanical Garden system to be built in China will select and build a number of high-level Regional National Botanical Gardens by comprehensively considering the major national strategies, the characteristics of climate zones and vegetation zoning, the richness of plant species, the development level of existing botanical gardens, local enthusiasm and construction capacity.

What are the differences between national botanical gardens and ordinary botanical gardens? Why can it assume the role of ex situ protection? Ye Jianfei introduced that rich species collection and strong scientific research strength are the national key to plant