Once-extinct tulips rediscovered in China's Inner Mongolia

Plants of Tulipa mongolica are pictured in the Gogestai Khan Uul National Nature Reserve under the city of Chifeng, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, May 14, 2023. Researchers in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have found wild plants of Tulipa mongolica, a species that had not been sighted for more than 40 years in the region.

The bright yellow flowers, distributed solitarily in Inner Mongolia, were believed to be functionally extinct after the species was last sampled in 1979. (Zhao Liqing/Inner Mongolia University/Handout via Xinhua)

HOHHOT, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Researchers in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have found wild plants of Tulipa mongolica, a species that had not been sighted for more than 40 years in the region.

The bright yellow flowers, distributed solitarily in Inner Mongolia, were believed to be functionally extinct after the species was last sampled in 1979.

They were found earlier this month in a one-hectare land in the Gogestai Khan Uul National Nature Reserve under the city of Chifeng, said Zhao Liqing, a botanist at the Inner Mongolia University.

Zhao said the discovery is of great significance to China's ecological protection and studies on the country's endangered plants.

Tulipa mongolica is a perennial herb 10-25 cm tall, featuring an ovate bulb and yellow perianth segments. It is placed under state protection in China.

Plants of Tulipa mongolica are pictured in the Gogestai Khan Uul National Nature Reserve under the city of Chifeng, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, May 14, 2023. Researchers in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have found wild plants of Tulipa mongolica, a species that had not been sighted for more than 40 years in the region.

The bright yellow flowers, distributed solitarily in Inner Mongolia, were believed to be functionally extinct after the species was last sampled in 1979.

(Zhao Liqing/Inner Mongolia University/Handout via Xinhua)

Plants of Tulipa mongolica are pictured in the Gogestai Khan Uul National Nature Reserve under the city of Chifeng, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, May 14, 2023. Researchers in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have found wild plants of Tulipa mongolica, a species that had not been sighted for more than 40 years in the region.

The bright yellow flowers, distributed solitarily in Inner Mongolia, were believed to be functionally extinct after the species was last sampled in 1979.

(Zhao Liqing/Inner Mongolia University/Handout via Xinhua)