IN a reversal of its traditional role, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh has begun to return plants to their original home in China. Edinburgh has the world鈥檚 finest collection of Chinese rhododendrons, with more than 250 species. Now Edinburgh鈥檚 botanists are working with their Chinese counterparts to establish two conservation centres for rhododendrons. The first batch of 220 plants, belonging to around a hundred species, has been planted at Hua Xi botanic garden, an alpine garden in Sichuan province. 鈥淭hey have better conditions now than they did in Edinburgh,鈥� says Dave Paterson, who supervised the planting. In March he will oversee work at a warmer spot in the lowlands of Guiyang in Guizhou.
In places the habitat for rhododendrons is disappearing fast, and the status of many of species in the wild is uncertain, says Paterson. The hotspots of rhododendron diversity are the mountains of Yunan and Sichuan. 鈥淯nfortunately, these are also areas that are under pressure,鈥� says Paterson. 鈥淔orestry and grazing threaten mountain species. In the lowlands the threat is from agriculture and hydroelectric schemes.鈥�
The repatriated plants have all been propagated from Scottish specimens whose exact origin is recorded in meticulous detail. Some of these plants are all that remains of Chinese populations that have now disappeared. 鈥淪ome of their genes may no longer survive in China,鈥� says Paterson.
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