I have lived in Xinjiang for a year, but I feel like I have been here for half my life.
It's a place that haunts me from history, culture, scenery to people.
The most intuitive is the beautiful scenery, Ili in April, the spring light is particularly grand.
In Xinjiang, everything seems big, the sky and the earth are big, the mountains and rivers, the deserts and grasslands, so spring is particularly majestic.
We drove all the way from Yining to Khorgos, with a special visit to Kokdala on the way.
This is a young but full of many past stories, known as the "Oriental Serenade" "Prairie Night" was born here in 1959, when it was still a virgin frontier land in cultivation, more than 70 years later, generations have dedicated their youth here.
The newly built city is bright and vibrant, and the avenue into the city is full of various modern varieties of begonias, which are blooming colorfully after a harsh winter baptism, from plain white as snow, to light pink like makeup, to purple pills like sunset, blooming extremely vigorously, just like the feeling that local friends give me.
Bottom: Begonia of Ili
When it comes to being splendid and rich and vigorous, begonia may be the first among various flowers and trees.
Although plum blossoms and cherry blossoms are beautiful, beautiful and extraordinary, but in a slightly cold and arid place, it can no longer grow, apricot blossoms are not afraid of the cold, blooming all over the mountains, that is, a little monotonous in the color and varieties, only begonias, whether Lingnan or Seibei, coastal or frontier, can germinate, draw, spread leaves, bloom, rich and splendid flowers, beautiful temperament, but also in addition to spring can see flowers, autumn can also enjoy leaves, winter is more fruitful, how can people not love.
Bottom: Begonia flower path next to Mochou Lake
But what is Begonia?
The most widely circulated authoritative statement now comes from the Ming Dynasty's "Erruting Qunfangpu", which was compiled by Wang Xiangjin, who was once the political envoy of Youbu in Zhejiang during the Wanli period, and put forward the concept of "four products of begonia", which refers to the Xifu begonia of the current apple genus, the weeping silk begonia, and the papaya begonia of the papaya genus, and the begonia with the stem stem.
According to the view of modern horticulture, begonia generally refers to apple species and varieties smaller than 5 cm, that is, apples with fruit diameters greater than 5 centimeters are called apples, and those less than 5 centimeters are called crab apples.
Below: The first and second left are the leaves and fruits of modern ornamental begonias, and the leaves and fruits of apples are the right, and the leaves and fruits of apples are the largest
Therefore, the "begonia" mentioned later in this article refers exclusively to the begonia of the apple genus, and the begonia of the papaya genus will be discussed in another article. However, even if we only talk about the genus Apple, the "name" and "reality" of begonia are very complicated, let's start with the "name".
In the Book of Poetry, plants with the word "tang" such as "gantang" and "tangtang" have been recorded, but the original "tang" refers to tang pear, that is, the small fruit of the modern plant taxonomy, bean pear, etc. There is a special section on "planting tang" in "Qi Min Zhishu", which refers to tang pears. Begonia and pear belong to the apple subfamily, and the flowers and fruits are similar in appearance, so it is logical that the ancients who did not seek subdivision were classified in the category of "begonia".
Below: Bean pear, also known as tang pear in ancient times, the fruit is small, such as large beans, the flowers and fruits of begonia and the flowers and fruits of begonia are similar in appearance (see watermark for picture source, the same below)
As for the meaning of "sea" in the name "begonia", it is said that the word "sea" from ancient times to the present day has a metaphor to express the meaning of many and large, such as calling the big bowl a sea bowl, the big oil lamp as a sea lantern, such as camellia is also called sea red, sea pomegranate, the flowers of begonia are large and varied, and the word "sea" is naturally used; It is also believed that because the ornamental begonia was a natural hybrid between wild apples from the Western Regions and native apple plants in the Central Plains by chance in the Tang Dynasty, people do not know their origin, thinking that they came from overseas, and they are called "begonias".
The word "begonia" was first documented in the Tang Dynasty, and the name "Begonia" was first recorded in the "Hundred Flowers Spectrum" written by Jia Yan (730-805), who was born during the Tianbao period of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, and soon in the middle and late Tang poetry, the word "begonia" appeared very frequently, such as Li Shen, who wrote "who knows that the food on the plate, the grain is hard" ("Hu Nong"), wrote the poem "Begonia": "Shallow and deep fangcalyx change all night, and the red and English report open".
Below: Portrait of Jia Yan of the Tang Dynasty, in his writings, the word "begonia" appears for the first time
In the Song Dynasty, begonia was widely cultivated, and two begonia monographs appeared, "Begonia Record" edited by Shen Li of the Northern Song Dynasty and "Begonia Spectrum" by Chen Si of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Shen Li (1007-1078) was generally a contemporary of Su Dongpo and had a wide range of interests, including "Records of Famous Mountains", "Records of Dushui" and "Records of Begonias".
"Begonia Ji" is China's first begonia monograph, and the book records: "Taste the ten questions of Emperor Zhenzong's imperial system Houyuan miscellaneous flowers, with begonia as the first chapter, and give the close minister to sing peace, then know that begonia is enough to compete with peonies, and can walk alone in Xizhou." This passage shows that in the Northern Song Dynasty, begonia has become the same top famous flower as peony, and it is planted the most and most beautiful with "Xizhou", where "Xizhou" refers to Sichuan, Shaanxi and other areas west of the Central Plains, and the later "Xifu" should have a relationship.
The "Begonia Spectrum" was compiled by Chen Si of the Southern Song Dynasty, and the book clearly records the "weeping silk begonia", saying that it mostly grows in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, and the flower stem is slender and silky and drooping. The Southern Song Dynasty poets Hong Shi, Fan Chengda, Yang Wanli and others all had poems entitled "Weeping Silk Begonia", especially Yang Wanli's poem said: "Hanging silk has a beautiful scenery, who has lost all Shu begonias." This poem shows that "weeping begonia" and "shu begonia" were both widely cultivated begonia varieties at that time.
From the Tang and Song dynasties to the Ming and Qing dynasties, Shudi begonia has always been well-known throughout the country. Duan Chengshi of the Tang Dynasty said in "Youyang Miscellaneous Tricks": "Jiazhou begonia, color and fragrant victory". In the poem "Begonia" by Tang Dynasty Jiazhou Raishi Xue Neng, he said: "There should be no begonia in the four seas, and a city of incense will open for a while." Historically, Changzhou (around present-day Rongchang, Chongqing) and Jiazhou (present-day Leshan, Sichuan) were both known as the "country of begonia fragrance".
The words of Fan Chengda's "Drunken Fall" of the Southern Song Dynasty said "only for begonias, but also to come to Western Shu". The great poet Lu You, nicknamed "Begonia Madness", his poems have repeatedly praised Xishu begonias, such as "The west first to see begonias, Chengdu's first push Yan Palace." ("Zhang Yuan Begonia"), especially Lu You's "Begonia Song" in his later years, he strongly admired the begonia of Xishu, and even exaggerated that in the face of the beauty of begonias, peach and plum are like slaves, and peonies should be shamed to death.
Below: Song Dynasty painter Lin Chun's "Sketching Begonia", Taipei National Palace Museum
There is also a story recorded in the Song Dynasty's "Cold Fasting Night Talk". Tang Minghuang went to the Agarwood Pavilion to enjoy the spring flowers with Yang Yuhuan, but the concubine was still half drunk and half awake, Tang Minghuang had to order Colix and attendants to help Yang Yuhuan over, Yang Guifei was drunk and remnants of makeup, and her sideburns were messy, and the Ming Emperor smiled and said: "This is the noble concubine drunk, it is clear that the begonia flowers did not wake up." This is the origin of the allusion to "begonia spring sleep".
The four words "Begonia Spring Sleep" also inspired Su Dongpo and wrote the seven-law "Begonia": "The east wind is shining, and the fragrant fog is full of moon corridor." I am afraid that I will fall asleep in the middle of the night, so I burn high candles to shine red makeup. "Although there are many poems about begonias, they are indeed as well known as this poem.
In the Ming Dynasty, the name "Xifu Begonia" officially appeared in the literature. Nanjing native Gu Qiyuan (1565-1628), author of "Guest Speech", which mainly records what he saw and heard in Nanjing in the Ming Dynasty, and its first volume "Flowers and Trees" records that there were six kinds of begonia in Nanjing gardens at that time:
"The first is Xifu, the second is weeping silk, the third is iron stem, the fourth is hairy leaves, the fifth is papaya, and the sixth is begonia.
Xifu is unparalleled in the world; The draped silk is fluttered lightly, and the wind is self-appreciating; The iron terrier has four colors: dark red, light red, honey and pure white, and is tall and beautiful; The hairy leaf fruit is called rich; Papaya Dutuchifen; To the begonia, the red makeup of the green cover, the wind and the dew, under the eaves, especially pity. In short, begonia is also fan. ”
Later, Wang Xiangjin's "Errutang Qunfang Spectrum" "Four Pins of Begonia", first engraved in the first year of Qiyuan tomorrow (1621), also basically followed this statement and simplified it.
Below: Part of Ming Chen Li's "Begonia Map", Taipei National Palace Museum
So what exactly does the "Xifu" of "Xifu Begonia" mean here?
The mainstream saying is that it refers to the area west of the Central Plains dominated by "Western Shu", which is similar to the meaning of "Xizhou" above. As for the belief that Xifu refers to "official fu", or specifically refers to Liyang (present-day Hexian in Anhui) called "Xifu" in the Jin Dynasty, or Baoji Fengxiang, which was called "Xifu" in Tang Dynasty, it feels a bit far-fetched and the pattern is small.
After talking about the "name" of ancient times, let's talk about the "truth" of today.
As mentioned earlier, in modern horticulture, apples with fruits less than 5 cm are called "begonias". "According to the English revised edition of Flora of China, there are currently about 55 species of apple plants in the world, mainly distributed in the northern temperate zone, and there are 25 species in the mainland, of which 15 species are endemic to the mainland.
The 25 species of apple plants in the mainland are divided into three groups and six lines in the flora, which have artificial cultivation, the more common, are in the apple group of the horsetail line and apple line, other mostly narrow distribution of wild species, ordinary people can not touch, will not go into detail.
The following is a table of the distinguishing characteristics of 9 species of apple plants that are closely related to people's production and life:
(The table can be clicked to enlarge)
We combined tables to identify the nine sisters of the apple genus.
According to the morphology of the peduncle, it is divided into two categories: "horsetail line" and "apple line".
The intuitive characteristics of the Vitex family are that the peduncles are relatively slender and drooping, and the fruits are relatively small, and common species are M. halliana, M. baccata and M. hupehensis.
Begonia weeping silk is the most common begonia on both sides of parks and roads, the identification feature is a slender drooping pure purple-red peduncle, the calyx is also purple-red, the color of the petals is obvious pink, and the general white single-petal horsetail, tea begonia is better distinguished.
Begonia weeping silk has a wild distribution in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Sichuan and other places, but some people speculate that weeping begonia may be a natural hybrid of begonia flowers and tea begonia.
Below: The flowers of Begonia weeping are pink, and the peduncles and sepals are distinctly purplish-red
Bottom: Flower branches of weeping begonia, with slender peduncles
Below: The fruit of Begonia weeping is the smallest of the begonias, less than 1 cm in diameter, and the sepals fall off at the fruit stage
Bottom: The leaves of Begonia weeping with purple veins and leaf edges, and the leaf edges are serrated and blunt
The name of horsetail has a local atmosphere, widely distributed in the northern mountains, its leaf shape and fruit shape variation is very large, flowers and tea begonia are as many white flowers single petal, the difference between the two is to see the color of calyx, peduncle and leaves, horsetail is pure green, and tea begonia is more or less similar to the purple red of weeping begonia; The second is to look at the shape of the sepal piece, the mountain wattle is obviously slender; Third, the leaf edges are serrate, and the horsetail is sparser than the tea begonia.
Vitex carries the vitality from the mountains and is resistant to cold and drought, so it is often used as a rootstock for other ornamental begonias. The weeping begonia in the courtyard of the community bloomed vigorously for seven or eight days, and unexpectedly bloomed a branch of white flowers, although pure, but also has a good appreciation value, take a closer look, it turned out to be the flower of the horsetail, I think the weeping begonia used the wattle as a rootstock, these suppressed horsetail finally tenaciously poked their heads out, and worked hard to bloom.
Vitex flowering is significantly later than weeping begonia, which is also the difference between it and tea begonia. Compared to the weeping begonia that is already ubiquitous in the city now, the wattle flower attracted my attention more.
Below: The flower branches of the horsetail, the background behind is the weeping begonia, when the horsetail blooms, the weeping begonia flowers have been completely thanked
Below: Comparison between the flowers of Vitex and the flowers of Begonia, the sepals of Vitex are narrow and slender, and the peduncles and sepals are green
Bottom: Vitex leaf edges have fine serrations
Tea begonia, also known as Hubei begonia, flower black tea, wildflower red, etc., also cultivated ornamentation, if you see white single-petal begonia blooming at the same time as weeping begonia in the park, it is often tea begonia, its young leaves can be dried for tea, hence the name.
Tea begonia is widely distributed south of the Yellow River, in Mengshan Mountain, Pingyi County, Linyi, Shandong, there is a large variety of tea begonia "Pingyi sweet tea" in the wild, now artificially cultivated, mostly used as rootstock for apple trees.
Bottom: Tea begonia trees in the park, full of white flowers
Below: Flower branches of tea begonia
Below: Both tea begonia and wattle have white flowers, but the sepals of tea begonia are wider than those of horsetail, and the sepals are as clearly bulging as weeping begonias, in the shape of a gourd, and the sepals and peduncles are more or less purple
Bottom: Leaves of Tea Begonia with fine serrations on the edges
After talking about the three sisters of the horsetail line, let's talk about the apple department. (6 dark green types in the table)
(The table can be clicked to enlarge)
Compared with the Vitex lineage, the intuitive characteristics of the apple line are that the peduncles are more erect and the fruits are larger, including three pairs of six more similar species:
Apple M. pumila and wild apple M. sieversii;
Bonus M. asiatica and Chong M. prunifolia;
Begonia flowers M. spectabilis and Begonia sifu M. × micromalus.
Xinjiang wild apple M. sieversii is also known as the Saiwes apple in the West, and its bloodline has deeply influenced the various apple and begonia varieties that are now cultivated artificially. When I was in Ili, local friends often mentioned going to the wild fruit forest in the spring, these beautiful wild fruits are Xinjiang wild apples, but unfortunately they are so close that they have not been able to see them during the flowering period.
Below: Photographed by the quiet wind in the wild apple forest in Xinyuan, Xinjiang
Most of the apple varieties cultivated in the mainland are imported from Europe and the United States. Early cultivated Chinese apple varieties were not resistant to storage, commonly known as cotton apples, and in ancient times were called Linyong, 柰 (nài) and so on.
In the parks of the mainland, apples seem to be rare, but there are many in the streets of Ili, and many ethnic groups will plant one or two apple trees in front of their yards. Apples bloom a little later than Begonias, and the flower color is a pink halo on a white background, which is distinguished by the fact that the peduncles and young leaves are covered with villi, and the leaves are wider and uneven than other begonias.
Below: The apple blossoms on the streets of Ili Six Stars, when the flowers bloom, there are already more leaves, the leaves are large and uneven, and they feel a little wrinkled
Below: The flowers of apples are basically white, and the peduncles and sepals are covered with white hairs
After the Xinjiang wild apple was transmitted to the Central Plains, it was crossed and backcrossed with local horsetail seeds many times, resulting in a large number of natural or artificial hybrid offspring with different appearances. The biological characteristics of apples are "self-inbreeding", that is, they are prone to natural hybridization and produce a large number of mutations. Some people think that the red flowers, catalpa, begonia flowers and Xifu begonias, etc., are actually hybrid origins, and some believe that begonia flowers and bonuses are native, and Xifu begonia is produced by the hybridization of begonia flowers and horsetail. Although there is a lot of progress in molecular biology research, there are still many details to be studied in depth, but basically the apple genus part of the 36th volume of Flora of China, the species division according to morphology is still valid, and we don't need to drill too deeply.
The name bonus may be unfamiliar to everyone, in fact, it is the "little apple" we ate when we were children, and the fruit shape is about 4-5 cm in diameter; It is occasionally seen as a sugar gourd.
The flowers of the bonus and the catalpa are more similar to the apple, and the difference from the apple is mainly on the fruit. Some researchers believe that the bonus is a variant of the rowan. The northern provinces are commonly known as sand fruit, betel seed, betel rowan, rowan fruit, naizi, winter fruit, summer fruit, betel seed, white fruit, pine nut, honey fruit, etc., which are considered in the flora to be varieties under the bonus.
Below: Flowers and leaves of the red flowers, the sepals are longer than the sepals, the back of the leaves is hairy, and the serrations are often sharper Xu Yan red
Below: Bonus fruit, pay attention to the lower part of the fruit sepal slightly protruding Photo by Liu Jun
Catalpa, also known as begonia fruit, has wild in the north of the mainland, and there are many types of cultivation, and the catalpa and the red are very close, the distinguishing feature is that the fruit is a little smaller than the bonus, about 2-3 cm in diameter, the stalk is more slender than the bonus, and the hair on the back of the leaf is much less than the bonus.
Below: The flowers and leaves of the catalpa are longer than the sepals, and the back of the leaves is basically hairless Photo by Liu Bing
Below: The fruit of the catalpa is smaller than the red flower, and the fruit stem is slender Photo by Zhu Xinxin
With the development of the times, small bonuses and rowan seeds have now been planted less and less in orchards, and now we are not easy to encounter, and eat and cherish them.
From the real concept and entity recognition, it is easy to feel confused about the pair of "begonia flower" and "Xifu begonia".
In terms of the concept of name, from the historical context, the Ming Dynasty "Begonia Four Products" in the "Xifu Begonia" first, the influence is too great, so modern botany should also implement the name "Xifu Begonia", but all begonia flowers are named "Xifu Begonia", and there is a sense of forgetting the ancestors of the Magpie Nest Dove, and the compromise is to separate the "Begonia flower" and "Xifu Begonia" in the flora and separate them into two species.
As for how to distinguish between "begonia flower" and "Xifu begonia", the "Flora of China" more considers the difference from the perspective of fruit, the fruit of begonia flowers is larger, about 2 cm in diameter, the fruit is pear-shaped, the tip is thick, the stem of the fruit is raised, the sepals of the fruit stage are stored, while the fruit of Xifu begonia is smaller, about 1.5 cm, the fruit is close to spherical, the stem of the fruit is sunken, the sepals at the fruit stage fall off, and a few are represented.
Below: "Begonia flower" M. spectabilis flowers, according to the flora, begonia flowers have white single petals, white double petals, pink double petals Photo by Li Guangmin
Below: The fruit and leaves of the "begonia flower" M. spectabilis, the lower end of the fruit is raised with a peduncle, the sepals are present, the base of the leaf is broader, and the petiole is shorter Photo by Liu Bing
Below: Flowers of M. ×micromalus of the begonia spp
Below: The fruit of M. × micromalus of Xifu begonia, the lower end of the fruit is sagged and the sepals fall off
The practice of distinguishing "begonia flowers" and "Xifu begonias" by fruits in the Flora of China is a bit different from people's habits now. The name "Xifu Begonia" in the flora covers a large range, taking into account the different cognitions of "Xifu Begonia" in Shaanxi, Sichuan and other places in history, and believes that the local people in various orchards called hot flower red, cold flower red, iron flower red, purple begonia, red begonia, old sea red, eight leng begonia and other fruit begonias, are all different varieties of Xifu begonia. In the original words of the Flora of China: "The varieties of begonia are extremely complex and need to be studied and unified." In the classification of plants, the name of Xifu begonia is temporarily summarized, and it is no longer classified as a variety to avoid confusion. ”
However, in this way, the concept of "Xifu Begonia" in the flora is not completely consistent with the image of "Xifu Begonia" with pink flowers, heavy petals, erect peduncles and erect trees in ornamentation. Therefore, it can only be said that "do not drill the horn tip", the botanical broad concept of "Xifu begonia" is according to the content of the "Flora of China", and the narrow sense of "Xifu begonia" in the minds of viewers generally refers to the pink flower double-petaled begonia that we commonly see in the park, that is, the Xifu begonia variety "like cherry blossoms" proposed by some researchers now.
Bottom: Begonia in Xifu in the park
Although there are many new varieties of begonias, my favorite is the traditional Xifu begonia in the photo above, the essence of the beauty of begonia flowers is that the flowers have a pink and white reddish skin feeling, full of vitality, such as beauty drunken face, run than warm jade, as described in Zhu Shuzhen's poem "rouge for the face and jade for the skin", people can't help but think of the situation of "warm breeze and light spring sleep".
Before writing this article, I specially went to "CNKI" to find a paper on Xifu begonia varieties in recent years, and I can't make the same mistake as Zhai Tianlin, from the paper, there are not many recent academic studies on the classification of begonias, and most of the articles are still introduced from Europe and the United States of modern begonia varieties, and many studies on traditional begonia are still relatively vague.
Indeed, since the Tang and Song Dynasties, there have been many poems chanting begonias, but about specific varieties, there are not clear and coherent records like plum blossoms and peonies, although ornamental begonia is prone to hybridization, but its basic color and appearance have not been significantly different for thousands of years, not like plum blossoms from white to red There are significant changes, so ancient books only distinguish weeping begonia and Xifu begonia from the "species" level, as for further variety classification, the ancients did not pay attention, so that now divide the traditional ornamental begonia varieties, There is no historical reference. Modern researchers have observed Xifu begonia in various places, such as Nanjing Forestry University's doctoral dissertation "Research on the Classification of Henan Ornamental Begonia Species" (author Chu Aixiang), according to field observations, Xifu begonia is divided into 3 variety groups such as single petal, compound petal, double petal, etc., a total of 12 varieties, but to be honest, the flower color, tree shape, etc. of each variety have not changed much, and the appreciation angle is not much different.
Since the end of the 19th century, many Europeans and Americans have come to China to collect branches and seeds of apple begonias, and introduce them to Europe and the United States, after the continuous selection and breeding of horticulturists, up to now, more than a thousand varieties of ornamental begonias, collectively known as "modern begonias", have also been planted more and more in China, the next article, we will talk about common modern begonia varieties.
In this spring season, begonia bloom so enthusiastically and persistently, so vigorous, let us who watch flowers also maintain enthusiasm and persistence in life!
Key References:
"Research Progress on the Classification of Begonia Species", Zhou Ting et al
"Research on the Classification of Ornamental Begonia Varieties in Henan" by Chu Aixiang
"Research on the Propagation and Cultivation of 33 European Begonia Varieties and Evaluation of Landscape Application Value" by Wang Mingrong