The National Botanical Garden was inaugurated in Beijing, with functions such as scientific research, popular science, gardening and horticultural display—

　　Strengthening the construction of a perfect system for ex situ conservation (Beautiful China)

　　Our reporter Wu Yuehui Chang Qin

　　"People's Daily" (14th edition on April 19, 2022)

　　core reading

　　On April 18, the National Botanical Garden was officially unveiled in Beijing, marking the beginning of a new chapter in the construction of the National Botanical Garden system.

　　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), the National Botanical Garden is organically integrated through expansion and efficiency enhancement, with a total planned area of ​​nearly 600 hectares.

　　Beijing in spring, the sun is shining brightly.

The two botanical gardens at the foot of Fragrant Hills attract citizens to come to enjoy the flowers in spring: the two botanical gardens are only separated by one road. It is called "North Plant".

In the hearts of many plant lovers, they are a fascinating treasure trove of plants.

　　On April 18, the National Botanical Garden was officially unveiled.

Since then, "South Plant" and "North Plant" have a common name - National Botanical Garden.

　　A number of high-level national botanical gardens will be selected for construction

　　China is one of the countries with the richest plant diversity in the world. There are more than 37,000 known species of higher plants, accounting for about 1/10 of the world.

　　Zhou Zhihua, deputy director of the Department of Animals and Plants of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, said that in order to protect plant resources, it is necessary to coordinate in situ conservation and ex situ conservation.

The construction of a nature reserve system with national parks as the main body is the main form of in situ conservation, and the construction of a botanical garden system led by the National Botanical Garden is the main form of ex situ conservation. The two are indispensable and complement each other.

"The system of national botanical gardens to be built in my country will select and build a number of high-level national botanical gardens." Zhou Zhihua said.

　　The State Forestry and Grassland Administration will work with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other relevant departments and units, in line with the general idea of ​​overall planning, scientific layout, protection priority, and step-by-step implementation, "mature one, establish one", and steadily promote the National Botanical Garden. System construction, gradually achieve the goal of ex situ conservation of more than 85% of wild native plants and all key protected wild plant species in China, organically connect and complement the in situ conservation system with national parks as the main body, and effectively realize the protection of plant diversity in China Full coverage and sustainable use.

　　"In recent years, the comprehensive protection concept combining in situ protection, ex situ protection and plant return has been increasingly valued and applied to the protection of plant diversity." said Ye Jianfei, a senior engineer at the National Botanical Garden and the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The construction of botanical gardens is not simply to dig up plants and plant them in botanical gardens, but to artificially transfer threatened species, regionally endemic species or species with important economic value from their place of origin to professional institutions in other regions for protection. It also includes establishing a germplasm resource bank to preserve plant seeds, tissues, organs, etc.

　　According to reports, the National Botanical Garden has protected more than 15,000 species of plants in situ, including nearly 1,000 species of rare and endangered plants such as metasequoia and dove tree ex situ protection, including 300 key wild plants in my country listed in the "List of National Key Protected Wild Plants". There are more than 40 first-class protected plants, such as hopetian tree, rhododendron red camellia, Debao cycad, dove tree, and metasequoia.

　　The National Botanical Garden will focus on collecting more than 30,000 species of native plants in the Three North Regions, representative plants in the northern temperate zone, representative plants in different geographic regions around the world, and rare and endangered plants, covering 80% of the families and 50% of the genera of plants in China, accounting for the world's plants. 10% of the species; collection of 5 million representative plant specimens from five continents; successively completed projects such as the Plant Science Research Center, the Ex situ Conservation Research Center, the Germplasm Resources Collection Center, the second phase of the Herbarium, and the Wuzhou Greenhouse Group, building 28 specialties Special garden.

　　Integrate advantageous resources, have leading scientific research strength and plant ex situ protection level

　　The National Botanical Garden integrates the advantageous resources of the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Beijing Botanical Garden, and has the country's leading scientific research strength and ex situ plant protection level.

　　The predecessor of the National Botanical Garden was a small botanical garden built in the present Beijing Zoo in 1925.

When New China was founded, it was still very small.

In 1954, 10 young employees of the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences proposed the construction of the botanical garden, and the capital must have a large-scale and well-equipped Beijing Botanical Garden in the future.

Two years later, the "Proposal for the Establishment of the Beijing Botanical Garden" jointly submitted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Beijing to the State Council was approved.

　　At the beginning of the park, site selection was an important task.

Ye Jianfei said: "In order to ensure a higher plant diversity in the botanical garden, the habitat will also be required to be more diverse. There should be hillsides and flat land, water areas, and not too far from the city." In order to find an ideal garden Yu Dejun, a botanist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who was the director of the garden planning committee at the time, led the working group members, and successively conducted professional research on the topography, landform, vegetation, soil, hydrology and meteorological conditions of Zizhuyuan, Yuanmingyuan, Ming Tombs, and Fragrant Hills. In the end, the site of the park was selected at the foot of Xiangshan Mountain.

　　At that time, the construction plan of the Beijing Botanical Garden divided the whole garden into two large areas. The southern flat land of about 93.3 hectares was used as a nursery test site, focusing on scientific research, species protection and professional visits. It was used for plant display, public visits and school teaching practice, and later developed into the current North Garden.

　　There are 2 national key laboratories and 5 provincial and ministerial-level key laboratories in the north and south parks. There are 6 national flower germplasm resources banks such as peony, water lily, and wild ferns. It has the largest herbarium and collection in Asia. 2.8 million specimens.

　　South Garden: Equivalent to a textbook on the history of plant evolution

　　Walking into the South Garden of the National Botanical Garden from the west gate, the first thing that catches your eye are the magnolias, followed by the roses, and then in turn are the fungus, the synaptic flowers and other plant groups.

"Our park is arranged according to the classification system of plants." Ye Jianfei said, "This arrangement is conducive to scientific display. The entire South Garden is equivalent to a textbook on the history of plant evolution. Walking in it is like swimming in the long history of plant evolution. middle."

　　According to reports, the existing land area of ​​the South Garden is 74 hectares, and there are gymnosperm area, magnolia peony garden, rosaceae plant area, Fagaceae plant area, herbal garden, crape myrtle garden, aquatic and vine plant area, rare and endangered plant area, etc. More than 10 special plant exhibition areas and a tropical and subtropical plant exhibition greenhouse.

In addition, there are scientific research areas, nurseries, experimental sites, backstage greenhouses, as well as seed banks and in vitro plant germplasm banks.

　　According to reports, the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences has made a number of important achievements in plant taxonomy research.

"Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, there have been 8 first-class natural science awards in the field of life sciences in China, and 3 of them have been won by the Institute of Botany," said Wang Xiaoquan, director of the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

　　While collecting plant seeds and seed specimens, Nanyuan has also developed a lot of resource plants. The self-cultivated grape varieties account for nearly 20% of the national viticulture area, and the brewed wine has won international awards for many times; , ex situ conservation to the collection and development of germplasm resources are involved. The peony garden in the park has collected nearly 900 wild and cultivated species of peony.

In addition to the peony germplasm resource bank, there are also four national flower germplasm resource banks, including cloves, water lilies, wild ferns, and hostas.

　　Wang Xiaoquan said: "The country attaches great importance to the construction of ecological civilization and the sustainable utilization of resources. While we protect plant resources, we must also open up the chain from plant scientific research to plant resource utilization. It covers all plant species information in China, and uses plant holographic big data to support plant scientific research, construction of nature reserves, large-scale agricultural development, and rural revitalization."

　　North Garden: Collection and display, conservation research, natural science and other functions are integrated into one

　　In the North Garden of the National Botanical Garden, there are many rare plants such as giant konjac and sea coconut.

"These plants are rare and endangered species in the world, and have extremely high requirements for cultivation and maintenance." He Ran, executive director of the North Garden of the National Botanical Garden, introduced.

　　The North Garden has 14 specialized botanical gardens, of which Bi Taoyuan is the specialized garden that displays the most varieties of peach blossoms in the world; the Rose Garden is the world's outstanding rose garden; and the Begonia Garden is rated as the National Begonia Planting Resource Bank.

Beiyuan has the right to register international begonia varieties, which is the only channel for the final identification, naming and release of new begonia varieties.

　　Metasequoia is one of the first species listed as national first-class protected plants in my country.

There are more than 600 Metasequoia trees planted in the North Garden.

In the cherry ditch of the North Garden, the microclimate is very suitable for the growth of Metasequoia. In addition, the spray system added by the Botanical Garden here in recent years has increased the air humidity, and the warm air is more suitable for the growth of Metasequoia.

　　Since the end of the last century, the North Garden began to collect orchids and continued to carry out ex situ conservation research on rare and endangered orchids. It has collected and preserved more than 2,000 species of orchids from all over the world.

In addition, the North Garden also conducts resource surveys and conservation research on some plants, such as the genus Phyllostachys.

The North Garden also cooperates with nature reserves such as Changbai Mountain in Jilin and Erguna in Inner Mongolia to carry out conservation research and field return of rare and endangered orchids.

　　On April 18, the National Botanical Garden Science Museum, located on the southeast side of the North Garden, was officially opened.

"The Science Museum displays plant science knowledge in the form of living plants, plant specimens, plant science paintings, popular science videos, and exhibition boards. It is an ideal place for people to understand plant knowledge, perceive plant culture, and participate in popular science interaction." Curator of the National Botanical Garden Science Museum Wang Kang said.