Sichuan Basin - Flatland

Flatland

These days the Sichuan Basin flatlands are mostly covered by farmers' fields and cities, while the original Sichuan Basin evergreen broadleaf forests landscapes have been reduced to small patches on occasional steep hill slopes, on a few sacred mountains such as Mount Emei, or around temples. A greater variety of natural landscapes and wildlife has been at least partially preserved in the mountains surrounding the basin. The natural ecosystems of these mountains have been classified by the World Wildlife Fund as the Qionglai-Minshan conifer forests and the Daba Mountains evergreen forests. It was in the hilly Lichuan County, on the eastern mountain fringe of the basin, where the Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides, previously only known in fossils and thought to be extinct) was discovered in 1944. The Dawn Redwood is distinctive because it is a deciduous conifer.