Rare and Endangered Plants in China

Abstract

During 2008 to 2013, China botanists completed a comprehensive assessment of the threatened status of China flora, using the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Categories and Criteria, version 3.1, and released the Red List of China Higher Plants (RLCHP). Therefore, China becomes the second mega-diversity country, after South Africa, which fully assessed the status of its whole flora, to achieve Target 2 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), i.e., “an assessment of the conservation status of all known plant species, as far as possible, to guide conservation action.” Herein, we introduced the content of RLCHP, focusing on the threatened species, their components, distributions, threatened factors, etc., and briefly demonstrated how the Red List be used as a conservation tool in China biodiversity research and monitoring. We indicated finally that the Red List is not once for all, which needs to be updated regularly, and it is essential to establish a national infrastructure of the Red List and biodiversity conservation, allowing the Red List knowledge transfer and policy support in the country.