Reality bites: Star show claims rare plant

A treasure hunt show on Dragon Television went all wrong when some star participants plucked a rare plant in Tibet.

The participants on Go Fighting: Search for Treasure believed they were picking adonis flowers on a mountain 4,000 meters high. However, botanists say it was Saussurea medusa, a rare plant that was recently added to the draft protected species list.

Botanists say the plant usually grows on stony surfaces at 4,500 meters, where the ground almost always consists of pebbles and little earth. Besides, at such altitude, it is freezing for 8-10 months, so it takes years for a seed to grow and for flowers to bloom. Not surprisingly, one often has to walk kilometers before finding one.

Gu Yourong, a botanist from Capital Normal University, said the plant is so rare that they avoid collecting it for even their laboratory. But the reality show participants plucked it without a second thought.

When television producers do a show, they should do proper research on the terrain, the kind of rare species that grow there and how not to harm them. Anyone trekking in Tibet's mountainous regions will know how rare the plants there are. And the one thing they should never do is to pluck a plant or flower there.

On Monday, Liu Yuning, one of the show's participants, said they had picked a model plant, not the real one, but experts say it is impossible to come up with a replica that looks so real. This could be especially damaging because as most stars have a huge number of fans who will want to do what their idol did.

People need to be educated about rare plants. It might take just seconds to pluck one that took years to grow－or that is one of the few surviving.