China's northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region plans to establish a national botanic garden in Asia's largest wild fruit forest.

The botanic garden will be set up in Xinyuan County in Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture encompassing an area of 20 square kilometers, according to Zhang Xinshi, an academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Xinyuan has Asia's largest and the world's second largest original wild fruit forest of about 1,333 hectares.

Once completed, the botanic garden will enable specialized research to be undertaken on some rare or endangered species and protection of the plant resources and biodiversity.

The botanic garden will also serve as a gene bank for drought-resistant plant from around the world.