Cao recalled the first expedition in 2022, where colleagues had to be lowered down to the tree by rope in the deep snow. The team spent an entire day collecting precious seeds.

"The seeds collected in 2022 have shown particularly strong growth, with a seedling survival rate of at least 65 percent. Seed viability fluctuates year to year," she said, adding that last year's collection yielded seeds with much lower germination rates.

As the cultivation base for these trees is located at a relatively low altitude of around 200 meters, which is much lower than the altitude where the wild Taishan mountain ash lives, the cultivation team must maintain strict control over growing conditions to ensure the survival of the seedlings.

The team is cultivating over 500 Taishan mountain ash seedlings, Cao said.

"When these seedlings are 5 years old and grow to 1 meter in height, we will attempt to transplant them into the wild to expand the population of Taishan mountain ash," she said.

We also hope to gradually reintroduce them around the mother tree, reuniting the "children" with their parent, she added.

Not far from the Taishan mountain ash seedlings at the creek base are rows of seedlings grown from the seeds of millennium-old trees — each a tiny body bridging past and the present.