Yunnan, located in the intersection of 3 global biodiversity hot spots of the Himalayan, Indo-Burma and southwestern mountains of China, boasts highest biodiversity in the country. Over past 30 years, new and newly recorded plant species have been reported at an average annual rate of 69. However, the floristic survey in this area is still inadequate.  

Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) has been engaging in studies on the biodiversity of plants in the tropical regions of southern and southwestern Yunnan for many years. TAN Yunhong’s team, together with national and provincial nature reserves, has carried out a number of years' in-depth surveys and discovered numerous new plant species. 

In a study published in Biodiversity Science, TAN Yunhong’s team added records to seed plants flora in Yunnan. They reported one new record family, namely Aptandraceae (Anacolosa griffithii), two new record genera, namely Pottingeria (P. acuminata), Cordisepalum (C. phalanthopetalum), thirty new record species from Yunnan. 

The plants were collected and photographed through intensive field investigation, made into specimens, sorted and identified. The voucher specimens for each recorded species were deposited in the Herbarium of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden of Chinese Academy of Sciences (HITBC), Herbarium of Institute of Botany of Chinese Academy of Sciences (PE), Herbarium of Kunming Institute of Botany of Chinese Academy of Sciences (KUN) and Herbarium of Xiamen University (AU). 

“The border area of Yunnan possesses one of the richest floras in China, but the floristic survey in this area is still inadequate. Therefore, intensive floristic surveys are needed to be strengthened in the future to obtain reliable information on the flora of the border areas of Yunnan,” said TAN Yunhong. 

Contact 

TAN Yunhong Principal Investigator    

Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China                     

E-mail: tyh@xtbg.org.cn