Yunnan Province is located in the southwest part of China, lies at 21° 8′ 32" --29° 15′ 8" north latitude and 97° 31′ 39" --106° 11′ 47" east longitude. The whole province is of low latitude, high altitude and with 94% of mountainous territory. Meanwhile, Yunnan has a number of high mountains, deep gorges and rivers. Yunnan is characterized by its unique highland monsoon climate, without four-seasons' alternation but clear change of wet and dry season in a year because of its special geographical location. Therefore, Yunnan has a relatively complete climate types from tropical to polar climate. Yunnan also has very old geological history. Rich plant species from other plate migrate to Yunnan. Based on a recent statistics, there exist more than 17000 species of seed plants in Yunnan. Again, Yunnan is famous in China for its rich plant resources. More than 2500 wild plant species are recorded with great ornamental value, 2600 species are used for herbal medicines, and 360 species as aromatic plants.
This beautiful album is written by a number of scientists from Kunming Plant Institute under the China Academy of Sciences, Xishuang Banna Tropical Plant Garden and the Forest-Science Academy of Yunnan Province. They have engaged in botanic study over many years, travelling through gorges and mountains in tropical, semi-tropical and temperate zones and taking pictures of wild fruit bearing plants. This book includes various ornamental fruit plants of 500 species under 120 families, with explanations in Chinese and English of their Chinese names, Latin terms, botanic classification, geographic distribution, living environments, fruit season, practical use etc. As the first book to introduce Yunnan and China's wild ornamental fruit plants that has ever been published in China, this informative album suits well both for scientific study and for artistic appreciation and is an ideal item for book collectors.
