If you know how valuable the Taiwan cypress is, can you put down the chainsaw? Plants to the World deciphered for Alpine plants

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Alishan Metasequoia glyptostroboides is a 2700-year-old red juniper from Taiwan, like a silent giant overlooking the earth. Only 6 species of Platycladus are known in the world, which are only distributed in the coasts and mountains on both sides of the North Pacific Ocean, and they are closely related to each other. They are scattered like pearls, seemingly scattered, but vaguely hidden clues. Thousands of miles away in Taiwan, there are not only two species of the genus ─, red juniper and cypress, but also the best habitat in the world.

Although there is a vast Pacific Ocean between mainland North America and Taiwan, plants from North America have already embarked on a wonderful journey to Taiwan tens of thousands of years ago. Why is this happening? How do they get here and take root? This puzzle is the answer to "the time and space travel history of Taiwan's alpine plants ── to the world".

Metasequoia glyptostroboides stood on the island for 27 centuries, and people were fascinated by its way to maintain good health, but biogeographers explored how it made its incredible journey to Taiwan. Photography: Liao Jinghui's seemingly unpopular biogeography is actually a love letter to Taiwan's mountains.

The recently published "plants to the World" is the first book in China to trace the origin of alpine plants from a biogeographic point of view. It not only combs the magnificent origin of the genus Platycladus, but also uncovers the links between Taiwan's alpine plants and the world through eight themes, such as mountain incense, berberis, Taiwan's endemic genus Chinese ginseng, mountain temperate zone, limestone plants, and alpine plants.

As the author said, biogeography is the study of the pattern of biological distribution on the surface, exploring the relationship between environmental change and biological distribution. From this point of view, Taiwan's alpine plants range from giant trees of the genus Cypress to unknown herbs such as incense, all of which contain a secret code to connect with the world. From their origins, they feel the patience of plants to time and space, and life goes on like this.

What supports the author, who has just received his doctorate in forestry from National Taiwan University and is still a human being in writing, to write alpine plant stories as moving as love letters to Taiwan? You said in the book: "the high mountains in Taiwan not only nourish my romance, but also enlighten my learning and thinking process on the road of scientific research. It is the most beautiful biogeography lecture hall in my heart."

Xiaoshan is fixed on the high mountains of Taiwan, but its ancestors are masters of travel all the way from South America to the high mountains of Taiwan. Photography: travel price. Chunshan Publishing House provides an academic hall for plant research opened by mountaineering. Gaoshan is Taiwan but not like Taiwan.

Because of his love of mountains, you aim to join the mountaineering club after entering the university. I originally thought that mountaineering was mountain climbing, but National Taiwan University's mountaineering club specializes in intermediate mountains at an altitude of 1500 to 2500 meters. You said that most of the mud, leeches and yellow vines along the way of the intermediate mountains made him a little disappointed by these experiences. After the painful experience of six teams, he gradually realized the beauty of the intermediate mountains.

"the beauty of intermediate mountains cannot be conveyed by vision. The more creatures you know, the more you like intermediate mountains." You said that after overcoming his physical strength, he gradually felt the beauty of the intermediate mountains, and in the clouds gradually covered by ridges in the afternoon, there were abundant epiphytes, no matter the lichens on the ground, the thick moss on the trees, or the insects and birds. They can also run into wild red junipers. Especially in some uncultivated forests, the changeable natural appearance can be seen everywhere.

The high mountains in Taiwan have a completely different view. "if the intermediate mountain is to experience the richness of the cloud belt, the high mountain is the cold experience caused by snow, which is an experience unimaginable in subtropical countries." Because of the winter snow training in the mountaineering club, he was shocked to encounter snow for the first time in the snow-capped mountains. Unlike the development of Hehuanshan road, which brings a large number of tourists, the snow-capped and isolated snow-capped snow-capped mountains appear wild. "it's really not like Taiwan, but it's Taiwan!"

Taiwan's high mountains open up a three-dimensional field of vision for travel prices, and also open the way for alpine plant research. The picture shows the tour price and the holy edge line. Photography: Zhang Yanfeng, the tour price provides "Why are the plants there?" Open up a dialogue between people and plants

He really fell in love with the "mountain", because the mountain made him meet plants. You frankly admitted that he didn't have a special preference for plants from the very beginning. Although he liked all kinds of creatures, in the process of mountaineering, exploring mountain biodiversity, and determining academic direction in the past decade, instructor Professor Chung Kuo-fang led him from plants to this topic, so "plants found him."

For plants, some people care about their appearance and beautiful legends, and some people just want to know if they can eat, what are the benefits of eating them, and how to eat them. But he is concerned about where it comes from and how to complete its great journey to Taiwan and distribute all over the world. "Biogeography starts by opening a map and asking what creatures are on the map. Where are they? Why? where is it? Start a conversation. " The price of the tour said.

The first completed chapter of this book is the mystery of the origin of Berberis. Plant research usually takes a group as the theme, and he takes Berberis as his research profession. although it is not the plant he is most infatuated with, it is the group that he spends the most effort and studies most. Although some people envied that Taiwan was full of species discoveries a century ago, he learned from the search for berberis that "the only thing we may lose to the ancients is our determination and motivation to walk into the mountains and forests."

You chose Berberis as the research profession, and the late Compositae master Peng Jingyi directly called him Berberis. Photography: travel price, provided by Chunshan Publishing House

Open the brilliant alpine Berberis. Chunshan Publishing House provides slash writing without the original intention of popular science writing to improve the dissemination of knowledge.

After you got his doctorate, he wanted to find a job and become financially independent as soon as possible. Writing a book was unexpected.

When Chunshan Publishing House invited him to write a book, he proposed an outline and handed in a trial chapter on berberis that he was most familiar with. however, even species he knew well found it difficult to write and dissatisfied. He didn't think he could write a book until the editor heard back. However, the publishing house saw the sense of events and stories in his words, and pointed out the incident, guiding you to find the direction of writing, ignite enthusiasm and complete this story of Taiwan's alpine plants with both knowledge and humanities.

"if a scientist does not promote the dissemination of knowledge, it is not surprising that the general public does not understand." Being able to communicate what you have learned with the public is also your original intention to write a book. Although it is difficult to read this book, it is a threshold that cannot be removed.

"in the course of academic vernacular, sometimes popular science articles inadvertently use imprecise metaphors, or sensational and exaggerated sentences, in the process of academic vernacular, so they have doubts about 'overinterpretation'." Take "Taiwan endemic species" as an example. Although the higher the proportion of endemic species, the more important the ecological status of a country and the richer the biodiversity, the importance of Taiwan endemic species is not determined by numbers or proportions.

The tour price explains that the occurrence of endemic species in each region has its own unique factors, which are the accumulation of a lot of physics, chemistry,