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Greenhouse Medicinal Herb Transplanted to Mountains in Xinjiang
Approximately 300,000 snow lotus seedlings, cultivated in greenhouses in Gongliu County in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, have recently been transplanted to the Tianshan Mountains.
A survey shows ninety-five percent of the transplanted seedlings have survived and are growing well in the wild.
A precious alpine plant and rare medicinal herb, the snow lotus is highly valued in traditional Chinese medicine.
Growing in very trying conditions, the snow lotus usually blossoms when it becomes four to five years old and thus has a very low reproductive rate.
In addition, the unrestrained gathering of the plant by local people in recent years has caused it to become a seriously endangered species.
The cultivation of snow lotuses will not only prevent the precious species from becoming extinct, but also provide a larger supply of the herb to medicine markets and increase local farmers' incomes, said Liang Fengli, a teacher with Xinjiang Agricultural University.
This is the first case of cultivating snow lotuses on a large scale ever reported in China, sources said.
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