Diversified and Colorful Flowers in Yunnan

　  Yunnan, a beautiful and marvelous province, is located in the southwestern frontier region of China. It is renowned as ‘Plant Kingdom’, ’Animal Kingdom’, ’Nonferrous Metal Kingdom’, ’a Cradle of Human Beings’ and ‘a Live Museum of Nationalities’. Indeed, it is a treasure land waiting for further exploitation and development.
　　China has about 30,000 species of higher plants, while the province of Yunnan, with an area of 383,000 square kilometers, which makes up only four percent of the country’s total territory, has more than 16,000 species of higher plants, accounting for over half of China’s total. Of all these species, some 2,500 species are ornamental plants. Many of them are extremely rare and valuable. It shows that there exits rich plant resources in the province, which are not only China’s wealth, but also constitute an important ornamental plant gene pool for the world.
　　In the early 19th century the ornamental plant resources in Yunnan aroused great interest and admiration of botanists and horticulturists from the Western Countries. Many botanists from such countries as Britain, France, Austria, Germany and Switzerland came to Yunnan one after another, and collected considerable quantity of plant specimens, seeds and seedlings of ornamental plants. They were so impressed and called Yunnan’s ‘paradise for horticulturists’. Some of them even visited Yunnan several times, or stayed here until they died. These foreign botanists also brought seeds and seedlings of Yunnan ornamental plants back to their native lands, thus greatly increasing the number of species in their respective countries. In addition, a number of Yunnan ornamental plants were also used to breed new cultivars. Today, many famous flowers such as rhododendron, primrose, camellia, gentian and lily, which are very popular in the gardens of Europe and America, were originally from Yunnan. It is not surprising that some Europeans say, “No garden is perfect without flowers from Yunnan”. In the 1930’s, an outstanding botanist of China, Qin Renchang, published articles in the magazine of Sourthwestern frontier to introduce ‘three famous flowers of Yunnan’, namely rhododendron, primrose and gentian. From then on, ornamental plant resources of Yunnan attracted great attention in our country. Meanwhile, many distinguished botanists of China such as Cai Xitao (H.T.Tsai), Wang Qiwu(C.W>Wang), Yu Dejun(T>T>Yu) and Feng Gupmei (K.M.Feng) were engaged in the investigation, collection and studies of the ornamental plant resources of Yunnan. However, it was impossible for the poor and backward Old China to pay great attention to science and technology, so the rich plant resources of Yunnan had no alternative but to wait in wilderness. Since New China was established, great importance has been attached to science and technology. As a result, the plant resources of Yunnan started to be more extensively explored and utilized, and great changes took place in the horticultural field of Yunnan.
　　Why are there so numerous plant species and rare ornamental plants in Yunnan? That is because of its special geographic environment, the unique weather conditions and an ancient geological history of the province. Yunnan is located at 21°19′-29°15′N and 97°39′-106°12′E, and is in the southeastern part of Eurasia. Its varied terrain is generally high in the north and low in the south sloping from northwest to southwest, southeast and northeast and forming a three-layer, slanting table. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is on Yunnan’s northwest side and the vast sea is close to its south. The province has its own unique plateau type climate, without four clear seasons but with distinct dry and wet seasons. The climate is influenced by the southwest monsoon from the tropical Indian Ocean, and by the Southeast monsoon from the South Pacific Ocean, as well as the air mass from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The climate types range from a northern torrid zone, southern, central, and northern subtropical zones, to have distinct and temperate zones, frigid zone and alpine tundra and desert. Many mountain areas with Eurasia brings abundant floristic components from Africa and other parts of the Southern Hemisphere to Yunnan. The uplifting of the Himalayas and forming of the Hengduanshan Mountains caused the withdrawal of Tethys that belonged to ancient and complicated Eastern Asian Floristic Region. Many pre-Tertiary plants survived in the particularly favorable conditions in the province. The southern part of the province is situated on the northern fringe of the tropics. It is contiguous to three tropical countries (Burma, Vietnam and Laos). Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan and Tibet also bound it with different climate types. Besides, most rivers in the province run southward. That is favorable to the interchange and dissemination of the species between southern and northern areas. Thus the floristic components of the southern and northern flora mix together in the province. These factors have contributed to the rich plant resources and high biodiversity.
　　“No cold and hot seasons in central Yunnan, the flowers blooming everywhere in the Spring City “.Owing to the special natural conditions ,Yunnan is not only rich in biological resources, but also provides a good soil for many exotic ornamental plants. For example, many flowers form South America such as four-seasons Begonia, Fuchsia, Scarlet Sage, Crab Cactus (Zygocactus truncactus), and flowers from Central America such as Variable Dahlia, Coreopsis, Tuberose and Red Orchid Catus have all grown very well in many areas of the province. Similarly, many flowers from South Europe and South Africa such as Carnation, Florists Cyclamen, Potmarigold Calendula, Scartet Kafirlily, Setose Asparagus, Tokyo Cherry, Phalaenopsis and various cultivars of Rose have also been successfully cultivated.
　　The rich ornamental plant resources of Yunnan are most valuable assets. They have great potentialities for exploitation and utilization. However, the problem of how to best exploit and utilize these resources and how to preserve them properly to achieve sustainable development has become a growing concern for the scientific community and the government. Since the 1980’s, Yunnan’s flower trade has made tremendous progress. The cut flower business of Yunnan has greatly developed. More than 50 cultivars of cut flowers have been cultivated in a large scale in the city of Kunming. They include Chinese Pink (Dianthus chinensis), Hybridus Gladiolus, Lilies, Roses, Babys-breath(Cypsophia paniculata), Myosotis, Phalaenopsis and so on. The Dounan Wholesale Flower Market in Chenggong county has become the Biggest flower market in southwestern areas of China. Every day there are 2-4 million stems of fresh flowers are traded on the market. Some of them have found their way to many cities of China and other countries. In recent years, the importance of the flower trade has been repeatedly stressed by the scientific community and the government of the province. The development of flower industry has been listed into ‘eighteen key biological resource programs’ by the provincial government. Especially, camellias, rhododendrons, Magnoliaceae and orchids have been given priority for exploitation and development. It is evident that the development of horticulture and flowers trade in Yunnan has now entered a new and prosperous stage.