Tibet is just like a giant plant kingdom with more than 5000 species of high-grade plants. Most of the plants in Tibet are present in the southeastern part like Medog, Chayu, Luooyu and Menyu. Tibet also boasts one of the largest forest areas of China; thus, preserving the primeval forest.
Many plants in Tibet have medicinal values. There are over 1000 wild plants used for medicine, 400 of which are frequently used medicinal herbs. Particularly well-known medicinal plants include Chinese caterpillar fungus, Fritlillaria, thunbergii, Rhizoma picrorhizae, Rhizoma Gastrodiae, pseudo-ginseng, Codonopsis Pilosula, Radix Gentiane Macrophyllae, Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae, glossy ganoderma and Caulis Spatholobi.
In addition, there are above 200 known species of fungi, including famous edible fungi songrong, hedgehog hydnum, zhangzi fungus, mushrooms, black fungi, tremellas and yellow fungi. Fungi for medical use include tuckahoes, songganlan and stone-like omphalias.
The best place to study the various plants of Tibet is Nyingchi, east Tibet. There is a famous forest known as Lunang forest, which is located at 3,700 meters above sea level, alongside the Sichuan Tibet Highway. The Lunang Forest is made up of bushes, dragon spruces, maple trees and pines. Due to Nyingchi’s lower altitude, most tourists traveling to Tibet also prefer to fly first to Nyingchi and, then, they travel to Lhasa.