Taitung Hongye Village Taitung Cycas Nature Reserve

The Cycas genus is a living fossil that has survived on earth for 140 million years. Currently only 15 species remain and Cycas taitungensis is one of them. Grown on steep barren mountain walls along the Luye River surrounded by canyons and waterfalls, Cycas taitungensis is a sun plant in xerarch succession which favors bare land with sufficient sunlight and limited nutrition. Its elegant tree shape makes it a desirable landscape plant and popular target of illegal logging. To maintain its population and reproduction, the Taitung Hongye Village Taitung Cycas Nature Reserve was established to provide regular patrols and clear labeling of each adult cycad plant and seedling.

However, smuggling of Cycas spp. from Vietnam, which introduced Aulacaspis yasumatsui, an insect feeding on cycads, to Taiwan, has threatened the survival of precious native Cycas taitungensis.