Rare cliff cypress given new lease on life

Winding history

The cliff cypress is a member of the genus Thuja in the cypress family that can be traced back over 300 million years. Its fossilized wood first appeared in the Middle Jurassic period, and it is believed to have thrived during the Cretaceous period but largely vanished during the Tertiary period.

The fate of the cliff cypress has been convoluted. It was first documented in 1892 by French botanist Paul Guillaume Farges in the Chongqing region of the Daba Mountains. Seven years later, it was officially described as a new species, with its type specimen displayed at the Natural History Museum in Paris, France. Despite this early recognition, the species faced significant challenges, leading the IUCN to declare it "Extinct in the Wild" in 1998.

However, the cliff cypress was rediscovered just a year later during a national survey, which reignited efforts to conserve this rare species.

This endangered plant, found only in China, survives in small populations on cliffs at altitudes ranging from 700 to 2,200 meters. Of more than 10,000 mature wild trees remaining, about 78 percent are in Chongqing, around the Chongqing Xuebaoshan National Nature Reserve in the city's Kaizhou district.

Today, the cliff cypress remains on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and is recognized as a national first-class protected wild plant in China.