July 11 marked the second anniversary of the unveiling of the South China National Botanical Garden in Tianhe district of Guangzhou, the capital of South China's Guangdong province.

Established in 1929, the botanical garden is the largest subtropical botanical garden in China and it is also the country's second national-level botanical garden.

Over the past two years, it has achieved outstanding results in ex-situ conservation, scientific research, and sustainable utilization of plant resources.

Si Ji Wu You (or, Worry Free for All Seasons) is a new variety of Saraca L. that is bred by the botanical garden. [Photo/Southern Metropolis Daily]

Currently, there are 42,057 living plants under ex-situ conservation at the botanical garden, covering 12,204 species and 6,652 varieties. Among them, 1,027 species are rare or endangered plants and 514 are wild plants under the key national protection.

Since 2022, the botanical garden introduced 2,449 new species, of which 270 are wild plants under the national key protection and 359 are rare or endangered plants, including the Osmanthus pubipedicellatus that has "disappeared" for over 100 years.

It established the paphiopedilum germplasm garden, which has collected 85 species of paphiopedilum, accounting for 78 percent of the world's total. More than 300 paphiopedilum hybrids have been bred, of which 120 new varieties have been registered at the renowned Royal Horticultural Society in the United Kingdom.

The liquorice germplasm garden has also been established and has cultivated five new varieties.

The 2024 Chinese New Year Rare Orchid Exhibition at the botanical garden. [Photo/Southern Metropolis Daily]

From 2022 to 2023, the botanical garden published more than 1,000 SCI-indexed papers. It spearheaded the "Biological and abiotic processes of epicontinental carbon sequestration and environmental response mechanisms" project – recognized with a second-class prize in the 2023 State Natural Science Award.

Nearly 500 activities to popularize scientific knowledge were held at the botanical garden – including the rare orchid exhibitions during the Chinese New Year and the firefly viewing activity in summer.

In 2023, a total of 2.41 million tourists visited the botanical garden, increasing by nearly 50 percent year-on-year and hitting a new record.

It was also listed among the first batch of national bases for forest and grass science education and was recognized as a national educational base for scientific spirits.