Three volumes of "Flora of the Pan-Himalayas" have been published as part of a project to understand the region's plant life, scientists said Saturday.
Started in 2010, the compilation aims to provide scientific guidance for protecting the local environment and bio-diversity as well as for using plant resources.
The project was led by Hong Deyuan, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and botanists from Britain, the United States, Japan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan also participated. They plan to publish the compilation in 50 volumes by 2020.
The three volumes were published by China's Science Press and Cambridge University Press, according to the Institute of Botany under the CAS.
The team has collected 60,000 specimens, more than 20,000 DNA samples and 50,000 photos of plants over the past five years. Some new species were discovered during the course of the research.
The Pan-Himalayan region covers parts of China, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Myanmar and Afghanistan. It is home to more than 20,000 species of plants.