Recently, a deciduous small tree called Parrotia subaequalis in Kunming Botanical Garden, has bloomed for the first time. This marks the initial success of the translocation and conservation of this extremely small population of a nationally key protected wild plant in Kunming Botanical Garden.
The plant is classified as Vulnerable (VU) in the "Red List of Chinese Biodiversity - Higher Plants (2020)" and was listed as a nationally key protected wild plant in 2021. It was once one of the 120 target species in the "National Extremely Small Population Wild Plant Protection Project Plan (2011-2015)."
In September 2017, Kunming Botanical Garden introduced 100 artificially bred Parrotia subaequalis seedlings from its original distribution area in Yixing, Jiangsu province, and grew them in a nursery.
The Hamamelidaceae is one of the oldest angiosperms discovered in fossils from the Cretaceous period, dating back approximately 67 million years ago.
