Giant pandas have become treasures in the animal world because they are rare and precious, while silver fir has no inferior status in the plant world. It is not only an ancient relic plant like ginkgo and metasequoia, but also very rare in number. Therefore, it is extremely expensive and has become one of the most important members of the national-level protected plants. Therefore, many people call it "the giant panda of the botanical world."
The distribution area of silver fir is extremely narrow. It is not only located with thousands of cliffs, dangerous peaks, and rare people, but also only grows on hilltops or cliffs at an altitude of 1,600 to 2,000 meters. Silver fir is precious not only because it is rare, but more importantly because it has a long history. As early as more than 20 million years ago, in the tertiary period of the Cenozoic era, silver fir was widely distributed in Eurasia in the northern hemisphere. However, in the Quaternary period about 2 million years ago, the earth's climate changed dramatically, glaciers covered the northern hemisphere, and many animals and plants suffered from disasters and died and became extinct one after another, and silver fir could not escape its fate. Fortunately, in the mountainous areas of southwestern China, the complex terrain prevents the attack of glaciers, and the warm and humid summer monsoon in the river valley area limits glacier activity to a certain extent. It is precisely because of its unique natural environment that it is the best refuge for silver fir. As a result, this ancient plant has been able to reproduce generation after generation.
The discovery of silver fir caused a sensation in the international biological community at that time and attracted the great attention of botanists from all over the world. Everyone regarded it as a rare treasure in the plant world. In order to enable this "plant giant panda" to be passed down from generation to generation and live forever, China has established nature reserves in Huaping, Guangxi, and Jinfo Mountain, Sichuan, mainly to protect silver fir, and has vigorously carried out breeding experiments and introduction work. Researchers at the Beijing Botanical Garden tried to introduce it to Beijing. After consecutive failures in direct introduction methods, they took a different approach. Based on the principle that plants can only gradually adapt to environmental changes, they gradually moved the silver fir from an altitude of 1600 meters to an altitude of 700 meters, and then allowed it to adapt for a period of time before moving it to Beijing. Through the unremitting efforts of scientists, the transfer was finally successful. A new member has been added to the Beijing Botanical Garden. It is the unique "plant giant panda" in China-Argenia argenia.