Valuable tree limb cut, stolen from botanical garden

A branch of a rare rosewood tree, valued at more than 1 million yuan ($158,000), was cut off and stolen over the weekend from the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, a tourist attraction nestled on a river island near the small town of Menglun in Yunnan province.

The garden - a magnet for tourists, and botany researchers and enthusiasts - had never before been the target of wood poachers, authorities said.

The large branch from the 51-year-old huanghuali tree, also known as the fragrant rosewood, was removed on Sunday. The garden posted a photo of the tree and scolded the poacher as "a poop head" on it's official micro blog account.