Salvia daiguii Y.K.Wei & Y.B.Huang is a species of Salvia native to the Tianmenshan National Forest Park, Hunan Province, China, newly described in 2019. No more than c. 200 wild individuals are known, occurring only beside rocky streams, on cliffs and in crevices in Tianmenshan National Forest Park, over altitudes of 600–700 m. We have recommended that it should be categorized as Critically Endangered based on the IUCN Red List criteria (Wei et al., 2019, Edinburgh Journal of Botany, 76, 359–368). Because of its narrow geographical distribution, the species is potentially facing a high risk of extinction and conservation action is therefore required.

Propagated Salvia daiguii flowering at Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden, and hand-pollinated individuals covered with nylon mesh bags, in early July 2021. Photo: Hanwen Xiao and Yanbo Huang.

Since 2011, researchers have been propagating S. daiguii in Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden, both in vitro and by division, and thousands of individuals have been propagated. In addition, hand pollination was undertaken in July 2019 and 2021 at the nursery of Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden, where we collected 140 and 150 hand-pollinated seeds, respectively. Seeds collected in 2019 were sown in petri dishes in August 2019 and 57 seedlings successfully germinated. Seeds collected in 2021 were sown in nurseries in March 2022 and 11 seedlings successfully germinated. As a result of these various efforts, thousands of S. daiguii plants in Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden produced inflorescences and started flowering in mid June 2022.

Normal germination, flowering and fruiting of S. daiguii in Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden indicates successful ex situ conservation of this species, and provides an insurance in the case of any potential threats to the small wild population. Physiological tests on plants growing in the nursery have shown that the species can tolerate high temperature and humidity, drought, salinity and acid rain. To provide information for the recovery of the wild population, we are conducting a comprehensive study of the species’ population ecology, seed physiological ecology and genetics, and of artificial hybridization.