We look forward to greeting you at the XIX International Botanical Congress in 2017.
FT-25: Gateway to the Tibetan Highlands; Western Sichuan
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Date: July 30-August 06, 2017
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Elevation of this trip ranges from about 1900 meters (Dadu River valley) to 4550 meters (ZheduoShan). On the first day we will arrive in Chengdu by plane. On the second day we arrive in Kangding, which was once known as Tachienlu or Tatsienlu, a name frequent on specimen labels dating back to the French missionary days in the late 1800s. Day three will be at Hailuo Guo, a narrow valley near the east foot of Gongga Shan (Minya Konka; 7,556 m), the tallest mountain east of the Himalaya, where the lowest-reaching glacier in Asia and surrounding forests can be easily accessed. On day four we will be to Mugeco Scenic Area to see the large glacial lake and forests of Abies, Larix and Betula with thickets of Rhododendron interspersed in many places. Days five and six will be spent visiting Tagong Temple, about a two and a half hour drive from Kangding, going over the pass at Zheduo Mountain, to see alpine grasslands and meadows. On day seven we will explore the open, gravelly and stony slopes with dwarf Rhododendron (<20 cm tall), thickets and boulder strewn slopes and meadows and scree slopes on Zheduo Shan. On Zheduo Shan are scattered shrubs of Juniperus, Berberis and Potentilla and many species in the herbaceous genera Meconopsis, Corydalis, Gentiana, Pedicularis, Primula, Saussurea, Rhodiola and other characteristic plants of the Hengduan region.The final stop, on day eight will visit the valley of the Dadu He , south of the city of Danba, to see dry valley vegetation at around 2,000 meters. The dominant plants in dry scrub vegetation on the stony slopes and natural terraces are Pistacia weinmannifolia, Ligustrum, shrubby evergreen Quercus, Zanthoxylum and Excoecaria.