Khanh Hoa province proposes conservation and breeding of the Krempf camellia species.

Scientists in Khanh Hoa province have proposed conserving the Krempf camellia species, which has been discovered in two locations in the province's mountainous region, with a narrow distribution range and limited number of individuals.

In late 2013, a research team from Piduop Nui Ba National Park in Lam Dong province and Da Lat University announced the discovery of this plant species in the Hon Giao pass area, bordering Khanh Hoa province. This is an endemic tea species of Vietnam and a rare genetic resource that could be proposed for inclusion in the Red List for conservation in the wild; and for research and propagation.

According to the Department of Science and Technology of Khanh Hoa province, in mid-2013, during the process of investigating and building a biodiversity database for Khanh Hoa's forests, a research team from the Southern Institute of Ecology, in collaboration with the Khanh Hoa Forest Protection Department, accidentally discovered an individual of this tree species in the Hon Ba mountain area, but at that time the tree had not yet flowered.

In November 2013, the research team encountered this plant again in the Son Thai mountain area, in the mountainous district of Khanh Vinh (6km as the crow flies from Hon Ba Nature Reserve). Thanks to collecting complete samples, including flowers and fruits, researchers were able to identify the species more clearly. This was over 100 years after it was first discovered by international botanists in 1912, also in the Hon Ba mountain area.

Documents show that in 1942, this plant was published and named Thea Krempfii by the French botanist F. Gagnepain, belonging to the tea family. By 1949, it was classified into a new genus, Camellia Krempfii. However, since then, this tea plant has not been found in the wild again.

Krempf's camellia is a small woody plant, up to 8m tall, with many branches and leaves; its leaves are simple, hairless, oblong, with prominent veins along the edges; the leaf margins have small serrations, and the leaf tips are purplish. Its flowers are usually solitary, sometimes in pairs, growing in the leaf axils, red in color, and 5-7cm in diameter; the fruit is a flattened spherical capsule with 10 segments, 6-7cm in diameter; the seeds are glossy brown, 1.5-2cm in size.

In terms of ecology, this tree species is found in tropical evergreen forests, distributed at altitudes of 700-800m, and has relatively little natural regeneration.

According to VNA