biodiversity

http://www.conservation.org/where/priority_areas/hotspots/asia-pacific/Mountains-of-Southwest-China/Pages/biodiversity.aspx Geographic boundaries from mountains and valleys create "mini-hotspots" with distinct populations PLANTS: Arguably the most botanically rich temperate area in the world Roughly 12,000 plant species (40% of all plant species in China) From website: "About 3,500 species (29 percent) and at least 20 genera are endemic, including about 100 endemic ferns and 20 endemic gymnosperms. Two plant families are endemic to the hotspot: the Circaeasteraceae and the monotypic Acanthochlamydaceae." More than a quarter of the world's rhododendron species represented in the forests, about 230 species Some of these rhododendrons can grow to over 20 meters tall