The rare plant Cardamine cheotaiyienii, once thought to be extinct in the wild, has been rediscovered after 85 years in the Wenshan National Nature Reserve in Yunnan province.

Cardamine cheotaiyienii is a species endemic to southeastern Yunnan, where it is found exclusively in the shady, moist valleys and along stream banks of subtropical evergreen broadleaf forests at elevations ranging from 1,000 to 1,530 meters. Presently, the population consists of fewer than 100 mature individuals, with a natural fruiting rate of less than 5 percent.

The species was first documented in 1940 when a specimen was collected in Malipo county, Yunnan province. For 85 years, it went unrecorded in the wild, raising concerns among botanists about its potential extinction.

In March 2025, a research team from the Wenshan National Nature Reserve conducted a field survey and discovered a wild population. The team recorded the plants to document their morphological description and updating phenological data. The findings were published in the international botanical journal Phytotaxa.

According to the 2024 assessment criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, the species has been officially classified as endangered.

Currently, this population is being conserved in situ in the Wenshan National Nature Reserve. Timely field rescue, breeding, and reintroduction efforts are planned to improve the survival prospects of this endangered species, according to local authorities.