Walking in a traditional English garden, you will be attracted by a flower called the imperial lily. Its white bell-shaped flowers hang upside down, and the outer ring of the white petals of the teeth is wrapped in elegant magnolia purple, golden yellow flower buds, emitting a faint fragrance. What you don't necessarily know is that this is the British Plant Hunter E. H. Wilson collected bulb offspring from along the Minjiang River in China in the early 20th century.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, plant hunters became one of the world's expeditions, surprising and even sacrificing their lives to discover each "new" plant. The first discoverers are often given the privilege of naming. It is precisely because of the thirst for natural knowledge and inspired by the adventurous colonial spirit of the contemporaries that many plant hunters have embarked on a long "flower hunting" road.
Wilson, and the farmer he photographed in West China carrying black tea This article is an infographic
There is a "Chinese" E. in the name. H. Wilson
In E. H. Wilson's English name was given the nickname "Chinese" only because of his connection with China, especially the flora of western China.
From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, E. H. Wilson went deep into western China for four times, lasting 12 years, covering the Shennongjia Forest Area in Hubei Province, the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, the Sichuan Basin, mount Emei, Wasan, Wawu Mountain, Wenchuan Wolong, Balang Mountain, Jiarong Tibetan Area, Huanglong Scenic Area, Songpan, Kangding, Luding Moxi, tibet edge and other places.
Wilson's expedition was a sensation in the West, collecting more than 65,000 plant specimens and introducing more than 1,500 species of horticultural plants native to western China for cultivation in Europe and the United States.
Wilson synthesized his investigation experience and harvest and concluded that China is the mother of the world's gardens, and finally wrote "China- Mother of Gardens" in the form of a travelogue. Introduced by Guangdong Science and Technology Publishing House and published in June 2015, this book is a book for lovers of travel and nature.
In another English edition, A Naturalist in Western China, he documents his experience collecting seeds, plants, buds and specimens for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. In 1903, Wilson came to China for the second time, he saw the tall Minjiang lily for the first time in his life, and in the face of the tall and gorgeous fragrant lilies, Wilson could not help but be fascinated.
He brought this to the Western Garden, where he was soon affectionately honored as the Imperial Lily, and the Spanish name of the lily, Liliumregale E.H. Wilson, also bears Wilson's mark. In addition, Chinese plants named after Wilson include maple, Kangding magnolia, hairy schisandra, and red bean trees.
"China - The Mother of Gardens"
Rainforest Nun: Margaret May
At the age of 79, Margaret May sneaked into the Amazon rainforest late at night with a flashlight in her hand and a 32mm revolver. She wanted to paint a portrait of a strange rainforest plant that bloomed only at night: a rainforest ephemeral of the genus Centipede. She knew that as soon as the sun came out the next day, the hundred foot pillars of life, which had only 24 hours, would wither.
Mei was alone, waiting in the dark and dark rainforest. Her native guide recalled: "I asked her, ma'am, do you need me to sleep next to you?" She replied, go back to your cabin and sleep, I can sleep with the jaguar. ”
Mei Yi lived for 80 years, 30 of which were spent in the Amazon rainforest. Dive into the Amazon rainforest for 15 hikes. In the year she died in a car accident, she was still planning another rainforest trip and had no idea of retiring. May was married twice, and only at the age of 47 did she really start working on the Amazon rainforest. After her death, her Flora of the Brazilian Forest is based on her previous 400 gouache paintings, 40 sketches and 15 diaries she had previously painted for the Amazon Forest, all preserved in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Gardens. Among them, there are many new plants named after her.
She has appealed to the British and American governments for the deforestation of the Amazon forest and is a staunch protector of the Amazon forest. International fame also rewards her efforts. She has received Brazil's highest honor for foreigners, an honorary member of the British Imperial Family, and an honorary member of the Linnaean Society.
She once said that even if I eventually grow old, my work will never end.
Magritte died in 1988, and her paintings gave those who did not want to go into the rainforest alone with a gun the opportunity to witness the wonders of the planet, which are still precious even today, when photography is widespread.
Margaret May
Nicknamed mom flower, a kind of Amazon rainforest ephemeral flower
Hunting Father and Son Files: Two John Triscants
The Oxford University Museum of Natural History is the place where Darwin first published his theory of evolution, and it is also the place where the plant hunter John Triscant collected a collection of natural specimens during his lifetime.
John Triscant had an elder and younger, a father-son couple who are remembered together, both 16th-century British botanists and travelers. Compared with many of the plant hunters who were lonely and unknown before they were born, these two were already famous when they were alive. Their profession was royal horticulturist, and in the Elizabethan era, which encouraged curiosity and an adventurous spirit, they traveled frequently, bringing exotic plants to the Native Britain.
At that time, for the British Isles, the European continent was already a foreign land. Further, John Triscante Sr. traveled to European borders, such as North Africa and within the Ottoman Empire, to collect exotic plants. He collected tulips from Haarlem, the Netherlands, pear trees from Spain, and lime trees and flower-based mothers from the Netherlands.
John Triscant father and son
John Triscante Sr. was also appointed to diplomatic and military positions. In 1618 he went to Russia, and two years later he went with his army to Algeria to fight pirates. He founded Britain's first public museum, The ARK, which later became the predecessor of the Ashmolean Museum.
Little John Triscant also did not live in the shadow of his father. He traveled to Virginia and asked every Indian he met in the local language: Ka ka torawincs yowo (what do you call it?). ）。 He brought back red maple, Virginia climbing tiger, American sycamore and purple lilac for the British.
However, the father and son did not take the path of academic research, they are really "black mud in the nail seam" gardener + plant collector. Not "academic" enough, when John Evelyn, one of the founders of the Royal Society, wrote Elysium Britannicum, the first unpublished horticultural work of the Royal Society, he did not include them.
Reginald Farrell (right) and his traveling companion william Potton in Asia
Asian Alpine Plant Obsessed: Reginald Farrell
In the Dales of Yorkshire, England, there is a village called Clapham, which is the home of plant hunter Reginald Farrell. Most of the alpine plant varieties he collected from Asia in the early 20th century were grown here.
Farrell visited Sri Lanka in 1907 and became a Buddhist after that. In 1914, he traveled to China with William Potton, another botanist at Kew. Perton would say Chinese and help Farrell a lot.
They brought back rhododendrons, honeysuckle, old stork grass and pods from Minshan, which later became important plants in British horticulture because of the similar growth climate. During both years of exploration, he wrote about the on the Eaves of the World and The Rainbow Bridge.
Farrell brought back the Minshan Cuckoo in Yorkshire
Farrell wrote in his diary about his experience of seeing a huge alpine cuckoo in Minshan: "June 2, 1919... I sat and painted one of the most amazing rhododendrons I had ever seen, huge, perfect, with beautiful corrugated leaves, and white bell-shaped flowers oozing with gold—that alone was worth the long way I had to travel. In his 40s, Farrell died on the China-Myanmar border on the way to investigate.