Special issue on Ecology, evolution, and conservation of plants in China: Introduction and some considerations

Abstract

China has one of the world’s richest floras with around 33,000 vascular plants, of which up to 17,000 are endemic. Besides these astonishing figures, the Chinese flora is very interesting from the point of view of evolution, as it shows a strong relictual character with some truly “living fossils” such as Ginkgo biloba or Metasequoia glyptostroboides . At the same time, China probably harbours the most important ‘‘evolutionary front’’ of the world’s temperate flora, the Hengduan Mountains. Unfortunately, the flora of China also includes a high number of threatened species (with nearly 4000), mostly due to the destruction of natural habitats and the over-exploitation of natural resources. This special issue, which corresponds to volume 34 of Collectanea Botanica , is aimed to contribute to the knowledge of Chinese flora through a series of contributions (seven full-length articles and one short note) spanning several topics such as biogeography, conservation, demography, ecology, evolution, and plant-animal interactions.