s:\sigaud\countries\china\Poplar Genetic Resources in North China02.doc 1 Poplar Genetic Conservation and Use in China, with Special Attention to North China

China has a distinctively rich flora of the Salicaceae, and in particular of poplars. Fifty three species have been described in China while 37 are distributed in North China1. Poplars, mainly as hybrid clones, are widely planted in the central and northern parts of the country for a variety of purposes. While poplar plantings have a marked protection function in North China, where they are the main constituent of a large shelterbelt grid presently being established, commercial forests for wood production make up most of the poplar stands in central and eastern China. The country’s unique genetic poplar pool is thus widely used for tree improvement, but the few remaining natural forests are locally under anthropic pressure. Several papers have stressed the need for their systematic conservation. Research on poplar improvement and cultivation is giving high priority to the use of biotechnology applications, and China is the first country in the world where genetically modified (poplar) trees have been released in commercial, large-scale planting programmes. The health and proper utilization of the genetic resources pool will determine the sustainability of poplar cultivation in the country, as this paper describes