Natural Habitat of White Forsythias in Songdeok-ri, Goesan

The white forsythia is a rare plant found only in Korea, belonging to the same family as the forsythia, and like the forsythia its flowers appear before its leaves in early spring. It is a low shrub, 1-1.5 m tall, with the tips of its branches drooping toward the ground much as the forsythia's do. Its Korean name is written in one interpretation with the characters for "beautiful" (美) and "fan" (扇), reflecting the beauty of the tree and the fan-like shape of its fruit, and in another with the characters for "tail" (尾) and "fan" (扇), because its fan-shaped fruit hangs from the tips of its branches like a tail. At one time many people carelessly broke off branches to take home, and as a result the species disappeared entirely from some of its known natural habitats. Here, however, a White Forsythia Conservation Committee was formed, and with the participation of Seoul National University's Gwanak Arboretum and the Nature Conservation Society, a project to revive the species was carried out; young trees for transplanting were distributed to the surrounding area, achieving considerable success. The white forsythias at Songdeok-ri, Goesan, grow on a sloping hillside beside a small mountain stream in a valley. The area has little soil and is strewn with large rocks and boulders; this is because the white forsythia, being a poor competitor against other trees, survives by avoiding competition and growing in such barren places where other trees cannot live. The natural habitat of white forsythias at Songdeok-ri, Goesan, is a site where this extremely rare species, found only in Korea, grows in a cluster; its rarity and its value for plant taxonomy and distribution studies are highly regarded, and it is therefore designated and protected as a natural monument.

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Where it is

Region

Goesan, Chungbuk

Designation

Natural Monument · 천연기념물