Scott No: 3214
Serial number:2002-14
Values in set: 4
Denomination: 4.40 yuan
Date of issue: 29th June 2002
Designer: Guo Zhenshan
Size of stamps: 40*30 mm (se-tenant)
Perforation: 12
Sheet composition: 20
Printing process: photogravure
Printer: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing House

China's deserts account for 20% of the country's territory, and are still expanding. The long practice of tackling deserts has proved that protection of desert plants and vegetation is an essential measure to harness the desert. The four species of desert plants shown on the stamps are good plants for fixation of desert sandy soil in different habitats of the desert. Ammopiptanthus mongolicus is a unique evergreen broad-leaf plant growing in the desert, and one of the major endangered species under state key protection in Cina. Calligonum rubicandum is a good plant for fixing sand in the moving desert sandy soil, with a great capacity of spreading seeds. Hedysarum scoparium is pioneer plant for fixing sand in the desert, and nice feed for camel and sheep. Tamarix leptostachys is a good plant for fixing sand in the salinized sandy soil, and popular afforestation plant in the Gobi villages.