Li Yuanqiu, a senior engineer at Shimentai National Nature Reserve in Guangdong Province, surveys plants as part of his daily routine since joining the reserve in 2001. Located at the southern edge of Nanling Mountain, the reserve is famous for its rich wildlife resources.

Li Yuanqiu at work in Shimentai National Nature Reserve in Guangdong Province. (Photos: CFP)

In his more than 20 years of fieldwork, Li photographed and recorded more than 1,500 species of wild plants, including the Chamaelirium Shimentaiense (Melanthiaceae), which he discovered in 2014 in Shimentai. The discovery was announced in 2020 in the peer-reviewed Nordic Journal of Botany. This makes it the first new plant species discovered by reserve employees in over a decade of surveying.

Li Yuanqiu at work in Shimentai National Nature Reserve in Guangdong Province.

Li said the protected area has many new species waiting to be discovered.
"There are still a lot of places I haven't been to, and I'll keep going until I can't do this anymore," Li said.

Li Yuanqiu at work in Shimentai National Nature Reserve in Guangdong Province.

In addition to surveys, Li has cultivated thousands of plants and holds botany exhibitions for students with other colleagues. Li encourages more people to return to nature in the hopes it will raise their awareness of ecological protection.
(Compiled by Wang Rui Yuchen, edited by Dong Feng)