A function was organized Friday in Haikou, capital of south China's island province of Hainan, to mark the first-day issue of four-segment stamps on paphiopedilum, an endangered plant.

The diamond-shaped stamps are the first of their kind in China and the third set of specially-shaped stamps.

The stamps feature paphiopedilum malipoense, paphiopedilum dianthum, paphiopedilum tigrium and paphiopedilum appletonianum, four major species of the plant commonly available in China's tropical and sub-tropical areas, including Hainan, Yunnan, Guizhou provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The stamp of paphiopedilum appletonianum has a value of 2.8 yuan, while the other three are 0.8 yuan each.

A miniature containing all the four stamps costs eight yuan.

Sources from the State Post Bureau say they have put 17.5 million sets of the special stamps and 16.5 million sets of the miniatures on sale nationwide.

Paphiopedilum originated in the tropical areas of Asia. There are 66 species worldwide, of which, 18 are found in China. Most of these, especially paphiopedilum appletonianum, are in Hainan Province.

(People's Daily 09/30/2001)