Xiamen's Acanthus ebracteatus in critical danger: saving the last endangered plants
Editor's note: "Xiamen Acanthus" (Acanthus ilicifolius) is a precious rare plant, yet it now faces the fate of disappearing from the territory of Taiwan, just as, despite being named "Xiamen" Acanthus, it has already vanished from Xiamen. The author of this article has long tracked biological changes on Kinmen, documenting the disappearance of one species after another, and calls on the relevant authorities to step forward and save this precious Xiamen Acanthus, so that man-made engineering projects do not destroy these precious species.
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Xiamen Acanthus (a type of mangrove), is currently not found in Taiwan, and in the Kinmen area it survives only as two small populations on Lieyu. Though named Xiamen Acanthus, it has already vanished from Xiamen, and currently in Fujian it is recorded only at the Jiulong River estuary in Yunxiao, Zhangzhou. (For an introduction to Xiamen Acanthus, please see: Xiamen Acanthus http://taconet.pixnet.net/blog/post/30863457)
In 2010, the country's only single Aegiceras corniculatum (please see: Aegiceras corniculatum)disappeared in the Shanglin waterway project. In 2013, will the last patch of Xiamen Acanthus also disappear from the land of Lieyu?
If the barely surviving Xiamen Acanthus is not protected, it too will disappear from the land of Lieyu. We call on the relevant authorities to step forward and save this precious Xiamen Acanthus.