THE second volume of Flora of Shenzhen was published recently after more than 20 years of research by local botanists.
The 752-page volume with nearly 1.4 million words includes about 690 varieties of plants in 65 families grown in the city, yesterday s Shenzhen Economic Daily reported.
Each plant was pictured in vivid color and there was a detailed introduction, said Li Peiqiong, chief editor of the book.
We also gave explanations for some difficult terms that common readers might not understand, Li said, referring to the book as an information database for plant resources.
Since the 1950s, several books on the flora of South China have been published, such as Flora of Hong Kong, Flora of Guangzhou, Flora of Guangdong and Flora of Macao.
We started compiling the book in 1983 and collected nearly 70,000 specimens over 20 years and found more than 2,800 varieties of plants growing in the city, Li said.
There would be five volumes in the flora series featuring all 2,800 varieties. The third volume was expected to be published at the end of the year, while the series would be completed in 2014, Li said.
(Wang Yuanyuan)
