About 600 plants of Isoetes hypsophila, a first-level state-protected wild plant, have been found in nine places in Baiyu County, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.
It is the second time that Isoetes hypsophila has been seen in this area following its initial discovery here in 2006.
The subsistence of Isoetes hypsophila is greatly affected by the shrinking of wetlands, drought and biological competition. Each of the nine distribution places covers an area less than 100 sq m, and in some places, the number of Isoetes hypsophila is smaller than 30.
Researchers said that follow-up investigations aim to discover more about its distribution and habitat in order to better understand how to protect the species.
Isoetes hypsophila, the most precious species of the first-class state-protected Isoetes, only grows in alpine wetlands, marshlands and meadows, and by lakes at an altitude between 3,000 m and 4,400 m.
It has also been found in marshlands, wetlands and ponds in northwestern Yunnan Province and western Sichuan Province in China.