The seeds of a rare plant that had been presumed extinct for a century before being rediscovered in Yunnan's Shilin County last year have been filed away for safe keeping by the Millennium Seed Bank in England, the Times Online reported.

The yellow-flowered paraisometrum mileense, known in Chinese as mile jutai (弥勒苣苔), is indigenous to Shilin and Mile Counties in southeastern Yunnan. It was rediscovered by researchers from the Kunming Institute of Botany last August. The last time the plant had been known to exist was in 1906 by French missionary and botanist E Ducloux.

In addition to having its seeds stored away in England, the plant, which grows primarily on Karst limestone formations, will also be grown in botanical gardens in Yunnan.

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