Plant Type Specimen Collected from Cangshan Mountain

        A type specimen is the one selected to serve as a reference point when a plant species is first named. As a result, these specimens are extremely important to botanists who are making attempts to define the correct application of a name. They are often specially curated in herbaria where they are filed separately.

        As Cangshan Mountain in Geopak is one of the areas in China from which abundant plant type specimens have been collected, it is also a world-known mountain for type specimen. In 1883, French missionary Delavay first started to collect plant specimens in Cangshan Mountain, followed by French missionary Soulie, British G.·Forrest from Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, British plant collector F·K·Ward, Austrian Handel-Mazzetti from Vienna Natural History Museum, U.S. botanist J·Rock, Chinese botanists Zhong Guanguang, Qin Renchang, Zheng Wanjun, Cai Xitao, Jiang Ying, Wu Zhonglun, Wang Qiyuan, Liu Shen’e, Wang Hanchen, et al. In 1984, a Sino-US joint botanical research carried out in Cangshan Mountain. The specimens collected, including more than 165 type specimens, have been saved in herbaria throughout the world.