Vegetation
The North Slope of Ma On Shan is mostly covered in trees, while the south slope is mostly covered in shrubs and grasses. On these hostile volcanic hills, only hardy and highly adaptable plants survive. Occasionally you may spot some rare flora species for example, three species of native Rhododendron has been recorded along the slope, including Rhododendron simsii, which blooms with red flowers in late March. Rare and protected species of plants also grow on Ma On Shan including the Chinese Lily (Lilium brownii) which grows on Ma On Shan's east facing slope.
A few types of wild Orchids also grow in the streams of Ma On Shan including Hong Kong's most common orchid, the Bamboo Orchid, so called because of a distinct stem that looks like bamboo.
Read more about this topic: Ma On Shan (peak)
Famous quotes containing the word vegetation:
“I would not have every man nor every part of a man cultivated, any more than I would have every acre of earth cultivated: part will be tillage, but the greater part will be meadow and forest, not only serving an immediate use, but preparing a mould against a distant future, by the annual decay of the vegetation which it supports.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We love to see any redness in the vegetation of the temperate zone. It is the color of colors. This plant speaks to our blood.... What a perfect maturity it arrives at! It is the emblem of a successful life concluded by a death not premature, which is an ornament to Nature. What if we were to mature as perfectly, root and branch, glowing in the midst of our decay, like the poke!”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“When the ground was partially bare of snow, and a few warm days had dried its surface somewhat, it was pleasant to compare the first tender signs of the infant year just peeping forth with the stately beauty of the withered vegetation which had withstood the winter ... decent weeds, at least, which widowed Nature wears.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)