A THOROUGH three-year study of wild plants in Shenzhen has discovered 12 plant species that had never been recorded before, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported.

    There are nearly 2,100 kinds of vascular plants recorded in the study, including the discovery of two new species in Guangdong Province, three new genres of wild plants in Shenzhen and seven newly recorded plant species in Shenzhen.

    The project, launched by Shenzhen’s wild fauna and flora protection office in October 2013, was conducted mainly for a national investigation into terrestrial wildlife resources. Sun Yat-sen University was entrusted for conducting the investigation.

    The investigation specifically studied 164 kinds of endangered or protected wild plants in Shenzhen. It also completed the study and composition of the DNA barcodes attached on the specially protected wild plants, thereby setting up a comprehensive management system for endangered wild plants in the city.

    Notably, according to the investigation, Shenzhen is home to 12 national-level protected wild plants with one Class-one protected plant, namely Cycas fairylakea, and 11 kinds Class-two protected plants.

    The eastern areas of Shenzhen is more abundant with protected wild plants with most of the plants mainly growing on Wutong Mountain, the Dapeng Peninsula and Sanzhoutian, as well as Maluan Mountain, Yangtai Mountain, Neilingding Island and Tanglang Mountain.

    The investigation team discovered that most of the wild plants are in good condition in Shenzhen, although some local plants have not been growing or breeding well enough due to both interior and exterior causes.

    Despite the fact that some plants are difficult to breed, human actions and changes in the environment due to urbanization are to be blamed for the maldevelopment of some plants, according to the results of the investigation. (Zhang Qian)