Workshop on Conservation and Reintroduction of the Endangered Species Euryodendron Excelsum Held

One of the BGCI China projects "Conservation and reintroduction of the endangered plant species Euryodendron excelsum" workshop was held in the Yangchun county, Guangdong province on 22-23 December, 2009. About 40 people attended this workshop, including BGCI China programme officer, Ms. WEN Xiangying, and several specially invited experts from South China Botanical Garden (SCBG) such as Prof. HUANG Hongwen. Local government officers including vice mayor of Yangchun county Mr. XIE Xingbiao and other leaders from the forestry bureau of Yangchun county and the Ehuangzhang nature reserve of Bajia town, and the local community and residents also took part in this workshop.

The meeting spot

The workshop was held with the form of presentations and discussions. In the part of presentations, Wen Xingying briefly introduced BGCI and its role on plant conservation; Mr. CHEN Yongju, director of the Ehuangzhang nature reserve, introduced the plant diversity and geographical distribution of the nature reserve; Dr. LIU Yifei, person in charge of this project, reported the research progress on the conservation and reintroduction of E. excelsum. Dr. CHEN Hongfeng, a SCBG research scientist responsible for another BGCI project conducted by in China was also invited to give a report to exchange ideas on endangered plants conservation. In the part of discussion, participants discussed deeply how to effectively conserve the endangered plant E. excelsum in situ and ex situ.

Group photo for all participants

On the morning of December 23rd, all participants explored the natural habitats of E. excelsum in Bajia town. Furthermore, they visited the Ehuangzhang nature reserve and discussed the possible reintroduction site in the reserve.

Participants explore the natural habitats of E. excelsum

The media interview Prof. Huang Hongwen

E. excelsum is an evergreen tree belonging to the genus Euryodendron of the family Theaceae. Euryodendron is a monotypic genus and E. excelsum is the only described species. It is endemic to South China, limitedly distributing in Bajia town of Yangchun county, Guangdong province, and Pingnan county and Bama county of Guangxi province. Exhaustively field investigations in the last decade have indicated that this species in the two distributing sites of Guangxi province has become totally extinct. Only one remaining population survives in Bajia town. E. excelsum has been listed as critically endangered in 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and also in China Plant Red Data Book.