Research by Stephen Smith, CCMB faculty member, and colleagues found a distinct regional pattern in China's 30,000 flowering plant species, highlighting the need for more conservation efforts

"There is a distinct regional pattern in China's 30,000 flowering plant species: Eastern China is a floral "museum" with a rich array of ancient lineages and distant relatives, while the western provinces are a "cradle" for newer and more closely related species.

In a study published Wednesday in the online edition of Nature, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hope College, the Florida Museum of Natural History, and the University of Michigan (UM) highlight the need for more conservation efforts in densely populated eastern China, home to many threatened plant species." - Xinhua (China)