Researchers in Korea have come up with a new way of cloning red magnolias.
Not only does it offer the possibility of seeing more of these rare flowers, it could open the door for the technique to be used on other plants as well.
Cho Sung-min has more.
Local researchers have developed a way to clone red magnolias.
These small trees are rarely found in Korea but are highly valued for their beauty.
And their flowers last longer than white magnolias because they start to bloom in spring rather than winter.
But they're harder to artificially mass produce than other flowers because growing them is much more complicated and time-consuming, so it's a welcome breakthrough.

Scientists from the Korea Forest Research Institute say the method was created using red magnolia buds.
They conducted numerous tissue-culturing experiments on them... and found in the bud a particular chemical full of a hormone that promotes growth.
They used this in their cloning technique, and in the course of a year, collected more than a thousand magnolia seedlings.

"We used as many axillary buds as possible in order to grow the stems and get them firmly rooted in the soil. The growing environment for the seedlings was another factor that was crucial to the whole cloning procedure."

The researchers said their next plan is to work on applying the technology to other rare plants.
Cho Sung-min, Arirang News.