A 51-year old Dalbergia odorifera( fragrant rosewood) within Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) was stolen by illegal logging in the early morning of October 10.Another larger diameter Dalbergia was "Saw hurt”, according to staff member in charge of the living collection. The stolen rosewood was valued more than one million RMB. XTBG has reported the case to the police.

“The plants in botanical gardens are used for scientific research, horticultural display, and educational purposes only. We strongly condemn illegal logging and theft. The logger should be punished with severity.” said staff of XTBG.

There are only six Dalbergia trees planted in XTBG, which was introduced and cultivated in 1964 from Hainan province. They are the first batch of Dalbergia trees by artificial cultivation. According to Prof. ZOU Shouqing, a veteran professor who ever participated in the introduction and cultivation of the rosewood, the Dalbergia timber is valued as up to 3 million yuan per ton in the market. The stolen rosewood tree trunk is with a circumference of 113 cm, cross-sectional diameter of 24 cm, an d with high core value. It is thus estimated with a value of more than one million yuan.

According to the staff member, another bigger Dealbergia tree trunk, upper and lower ends 40 cm apart, have each been sawed , with 1/3 and 1 / 4 deep saw marks. For the “injured rosewood”, it is difficult to remedy due to the large age. XTBG is trying to help it survive strain by grafting method to remedy.

Dalbergia odorifera T. Chen belongs to family of Leguminosae. It is the endemic species in Hainan, mostly distributed in west and southwest plains or hilly areaswith altitude altitude below 400m.. This species is the first-grade state protection plant in China, moreover, it was identified identified in Red List of Threatened Threatened species by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 1998.

The scene of stolen trunk

The "saw injured" fragrant rosewood