The number of Uroplysa rockii, a rare plant found only in Southwest China’s Sichuan province, has increased from 30 to 600 over the past six years, largely due to artificial intervention in laboratories. However, the plant is now set to return to nature, according to a report by Chengdu Business Daily.

The Uroplysa rockii, officially included on the national list of rare and protected plants in November 2010, has blue flowers in a five-pointed star shape. The plant was discovered by Austrian-American botanist Joseph Rock in 1925 during Rock's travels in Northwest China’s Gansu province. American and European botanists later confirmed it to be a new species, according to Su Zeyuan, chief engineer of the Jiangyou Forestry Bureau.

Only 2,026 plants could be found in the upstream area of Jiangyou's Fujiang River at the time. That number was based on a comprehensive investigation conducted jointly by the Sichuan Provincial Academy of Environmental Sciences, the College of Life Sciences of Sichuan University and the Sichuan Academy of Forestry among others.

Su noted that, as the number of artificially cultivated specimens has reached a secure level, it is now time to move them into the wild. In fact, that process is already underway, started last July. At present, more than 600 plants have been moved, with a survival rate of more than 85 percent.

“As there is only a small number of the plants and no studies of its value, all measures taken now are for the sake of plant diversity and preservation,” said Su.