Conservation And Utilization Of Plant Resources Of Qixia Mountain

Qixia Mountain, reputed as "the first bright and elegant mountain of Jinling", is always famous for its good natural vegetation and rich plant resources. In recent years, with the exploit of lead, zinc, and silver mines, cutting trees blindly, and environment pollution in the Mountain, its water system and natural vegetation were damaged severely. If no attention were paid to stop destroy and to begin protection, Qixia Mountain would be far away gradually from the calling of "the first bright and elegant mountain of Jinling". From Apr 2009 to Sep 2010, the author investigated plant resources of Qixia Mountain, with over 100 plant samples collected and more than 2000 photos taken. On the analysis of survey results and relevant historical documents, we made a classification of plant resources according to their use and economic value, and gave some recommendations for their conservation and utilization. These suggestions were implemented during the period of Oct 2010 to Apr 2011, and preliminary results were obtained.Qixia Mountain, located in the north-east suburb in Nanjing, and north of Yangtze River, is in the zone of humid tropical climate and monsoon circulation Marine climate, with four distinct seasons, sufficient sunshine, plentiful water, deep soil, and good water permeability. Therefore, plant resources especially wild plant in ancient are very rich. There was a total of more than 600 species of plants, of which more than 500 species of wild plants,6 species of new records distributing in Jiangsu Province,8 species of rare and endangered plants, and it was very obvious in regional distribution of plant communities dominated by single species. On the basis of use and economic value, the plant resources in Qixia Mountain were classified into ornamental plants, medicinal plants, plants in ancient and famous trees, rare and endangered plants and other uses of plant resources. For ornamental plant resources, we preserved the existing diversity of plant species, and strengthened the advantages of featured plant species of the Mountains, meanwhile, we introduced some new species fit for the soil and climate here to enrich ornamental plant resources in Qixia Mountain. For the old and famous trees, we mainly strengthened the protection by appointing people for special management and establishing tracking and managing archives. For the medicinal plant resources, on the one hand, we made the conservation of these plants, and on the other hand, we tried to built a medicinal plant resource base, for the purposes of scientific research, education and tourism as a whole, to create economic benefits. For endangered plants, we strengthened protection, and at the same time, opened up nursery base for saving these plant resources by artificial propagation. Meanwhile, we repaired the water systems damaged because of mining, built water features for better conservation of the vegetation, and made Qixia Mountain be worthy of the calling of "the first bright and elegant mountain of Jinling", and made it become a national forest park which setting sightseeing, plant resources gene pool, teaching and research as a whole.