Flower Season in Yangmingshan National Park, Taipei
Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山國家公園) is one of the nine national parks in Taiwan, located in both Taipei and New Taipei City. The districts that are partially in the park include Taipei’s Beitou and Shilin Districts; and New Taipei’s Wanli, Jinshan, Sanzhi and Tamsui Districts.
The national park is known for its cherry blossoms, hot springs, sulfur deposits, fumaroles, venomous snakes, and hiking trails, including Taiwan’s tallest dormant volcano, Qixing (Seven Star) Mountain rising to 1,120 m (3,675 ft).
This mountain range was originally called “Grass Mountain” (草山) during the Qing Dynasty, in reference to the Datun Mountain (大屯山).
Daiton National Park [ja], Taiwan’s first national park, was established on 27 December 1937. It was one of three national parks designated by Governor-General of Taiwan Seizō Kobayashi during Japanese rule.
In 1950, President Chiang Kai-shek renamed Grass Mountain to Yangmingshan to commemorate the Ming Dynasty scholar Wang Yangming. In 1962, the Taiwan Provincial Bureau of Public Works began to plan the Yangmingshan National Park.
Unlike most other national parks, the Yangmingshan National Park has a lower elevation. Although the park’s elevation ranges from only 200–1120 meters, beautiful landscapes such as ridges, valleys, lakes, waterfalls, and basins are abundant. Andesite rocks make up most of the area’s geology.
There are 1360 species of vascular bundle plants in the region. Some of the common ones are red nanmu, large-leaved machilus, Formosan sweet gum, Taiwan cherry, Mori cleyera and dark spotted cherry. The most famous is Taiwan isoetes in Menghuan pond, an aquatic fern only found in Taiwan.
Mt. Datun is one of the most well-known places to see some of the 168 species of butterflies in northern Taiwan, With them being most frequently seen from May to August. The most common ones are from the families Papilionidae, Danainae, and Nymphalidae. There are also 122 species of birds in the region. Semi-feral cattle are one of the notable attractions in the area.
Video Source: 2023陽明山花季 By 猴子老公(2023 Yangmingshan FlowerFestival) from 猴子老公 on Youtube ⁄ CC BY
