花展主题花丨花中西施——杜鹃花
Rhododendrons
· 2023粤港澳大湾区花展主题花 ·
闲折两枝持在手，细看不似人间有
花中此物似西施，芙蓉芍药皆嫫母1
2 XI Shi, who is said to have been a native of the Yue State during the Spring and Autumn Period, is the first of the four great beauties of ancient China and a symbol of beauty in Chinese culture.
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元和十一年（公元816年），人间三月，时居江州（现九江市）的大诗人白居易在写给挚友元稹的诗《山石榴寄元九》中将山石榴奉为超凡脱俗的至美——花中西施。他一定倾心于这遍野绽放、“嫩紫殷红”的山花，否则又怎会将它移栽至庭前细细观赏、详加描摹呢？唐人所说的山石榴，可能是如今我们所说的杜鹃（Rhododendron simsii）本种，它在我国南部山地极为常见，还有个直观且流传甚广的名字叫映山红。西施这一比喻，以最为精简的文字传达出杜鹃之绝色，但诗人可能大意了，如果西施不止一位呢？
In March of 816, the great poet BAI Juyi, who lived in Jiangzhou (now Jiujiang City) at the time, wrote a poem called The Mount Pomegranate to YUAN Jiu. his close friend YUAN Zhen. He praised the Mount pomegranate (in Chinese Shan-shi-liu) as the most beautiful flower in the world, like the legendary beauty XI Shi. He must have been fond of this tender purple and red flower; otherwise, he would not have transplanted it at his garden to observe and describe it in detail. The Mount pomegranate, referred to by the Tang people, is probably the species we now call Rhododendron simsii, which is very common in the southern mountains of China and has an intuitive and widespread name, Ying-shan-hong (means coloring the mountains red). The metaphor of R. simsii is conveyed concisely, but the poet may have been careless. What if there were more than one XI Shi?
如今我们俗称的杜鹃花，一般指杜鹃花科（Ericaceae）杜鹃花属（Rhododendron）植物。杜鹃花属是一个包含约1000个野生种类的庞大家族，它们广泛分布于欧洲、亚洲和北美洲，“足迹”甚至可达北极地带和大洋洲，也是北半球最大的木本植物属。杜鹃花属植物多为常绿，植株以灌木为主，也有高大乔木、极其矮小的匍匐植株乃至附生植物。东亚和东南亚地区是杜鹃花属当仁不让的分布中心，中国更是这类植物的圣地——约570种野生杜鹃花生长在中国，约占世界种类的60%，最为震撼的是，其中400余种为我国所特有3。在中国绝大多数省区都能观赏到野生杜鹃花，倘若大诗人白居易勤于行山，在他当时生活的江州城和庐山，便有可能看见包括杜鹃、云锦杜鹃（R. fortunei）、丁香杜鹃（R. farrerae）、马银花（R. ovatum）和羊踯躅（R. molle）等至少5种杜鹃花属植物，它们有着各不相同的气质和姿容，却也有着同样惊人的美丽，试问这其中的谁又不能是西施呢？
Today, what we commonly call rhododendron (in Chinese, Du-juan flower) refers to plants of the genus Rhododendron in the family Ericaceae. Rhododendron is a large group of about 1000 wild species widely distributed in Europe, Asia, and North America, even reaching the Arctic and Oceania. It is the largest genus of woody plants in the Northern Hemisphere. Rhododendron species are primarily evergreen (deciduous rhododendrons, also known as azaleas), are plants that are mainly shrubs but also tall trees, tiny prostrate plants, and even epiphytes. East and Southeast Asia are the distribution centers of the genus, and China is a sanctuary for these plants - about 570 species of wild Rhododendron grow in China, accounting for about 60% of the world’s diversity. Most strikingly, more than 400 of these species are endemic to China. Wild Rhododendron species can be found in most of the provinces and regions of China. If the great poet BAI Juyi had been a diligent hiker, he would have seen at least five species of Rhododendron, including R. simsii, R. fortunei, R. farrerae, R. ovatum, and R. molle, in the city of Jiangzhou and Mount Lushan where he lived at the time. They have different temperaments and appearances but also have the same fantastic beauty. Ask who among them cannot be the beauty, Ms XI Shi?
3 杜鹃花属的物种数、中国分布种数和中国特有种数参考了《中国植物志》（英文修订版）（http://www.iplant.cn/）和《中国杜鹃花属植物》中的相关数据。The number of Rhododendron species distributed in China and endemic to China were referred to in the Flora of China and The Genus Rhododendron of China.
古人并不掌握如今的植物分类学，但他们通过长期的观察和比较，隐约地发现了常见杜鹃花属植物的联系。白居易在诗中写道，山石榴又称山踯躅，也叫杜鹃花。山石榴这个名字，最早大约见于东晋，由此也可推测出人们对这种野花最早的观感——生于山间，有着与石榴相仿、绚丽如火的花色。山踯躅这一称呼可能源自羊踯躅，后者分布广泛，花呈黄色，是最早见于古籍记载的杜鹃花属植物；后来人们发现，尽管颜色不同，羊踯躅的花叶形态和山石榴颇为相似，慢慢地，山石榴就也被称作了山踯躅。而被我们沿用至今的杜鹃花这个名字又从何而来？它恐怕来自杜鹃鸟，唐人发现，杜鹃鸟鸣之时，正值山石榴花开烂漫，于是又将这两个名字联系在了一起。
The ancients did not know today’s plant taxonomy, but they visually discovered the connection of common Rhododendron species through long observation and comparison. In his poem, BAI Juyi wrote that the Mount pomegranate, also known as Shan-zhi-zhu, is also called Du-juan flower. The name Mount pomegranate, first seen in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420), reveals people’s earliest observation of this wildflower - born in the mountains, with a color similar to that of pomegranate, gorgeous as fire. The name Shan-zhi-zhu probably comes from the Yang-zhi-zhu (R. molle), which is widely distributed and has yellow flowers and was the first recorded Rhododendron species in ancient Chinese books. Later, it was discovered that, despite the different colors, the flowers and leaves of the Yang-zhi-zhu are fairly similar to those of the Mount pomegranate, and slowly the Mount pomegranate was also called Shan-zhi-zhu. And where did the name Du-juan come from, that we still use today? It probably came from the cuckoo bird (in Chinese Du-juan). The Tang people heard the cuckoo birds sing when the Mount pomegranate bloomed, so the two names were linked.
谁人不爱这花团锦簇、色彩浓郁的佳人？唐人开始收集野生杜鹃花栽种于庭园甚至宫廷，把它们作为热情富贵的象征；宋代的江浙文人酷爱将其移入私家园林，当时还有女性“云鬓争插杜鹃花”的风俗；到了明清时期，人们对杜鹃花的习性有了更多了解，还将其精制成装点居所的盆栽——这记载于明末名士文震亨的著作《长物志》中。有些遗憾的是，对于那些生活在中原和长江中下游城区的文人富商而言，常见且适宜栽培的杜鹃花种类相对有限。我国杜鹃花多样性最丰富的省区是云南、西藏和四川，喜马拉雅和横断山区的地质和气候演变给生物演化带来了无限可能，那里分布着全国杜鹃花种类中的75%，它们坚韧地生长在对人类而言充满着艰难险阻的崇山峻岭中。崇祯十二年（1639年），著名旅行家徐霞客在《滇游日记》（八至十）中记录了自己游历云南时沿途在村庐和寺院中所见的杜鹃花景观，称其灿烂夺目，此外，他还记述了自己参加当地居民插植杜鹃花的活动。出生、成长于江浙的徐霞客，或许也曾在故乡的园林和盆栽中观赏过杜鹃花，但让他在云南赞叹不已的，恐怕是时人难得一见的迥异种类。
Who doesn’t love this flowering, richly colored-beauty? The Tang people began to collect wild rhododendrons and plant them in their gardens and even at court as a symbol of passion and wealth; the literati of Jiangzhe regions (now Prov. Jiangsu and Prov. Zhejiang) in the Song Dynasty, loved to move them into their private gardens, and there was a custom for women to put rhododendron flowers in their hair buns. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, people learned more about the habits of rhododendrons and grew them in potted plants to decorate their homes, which is recorded in the book Treatise on Superfluous Things by WEN Zhenheng, a famous scholar in late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Unfortunately, the number of standard and suitable cultivated species of rhododendrons was relatively limited for the wealthy literati living in the urban areas of central China and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The provinces with the most incredible diversity of Rhododendrons in China are Yunnan, Xizang, and Sichuan. The geological and climatic evolution of the Himalayas and the Hengduan Mountains opened up infinite possibilities for biological evolution. Here 75% of the country’s Rhododendron species are found, growing resiliently in the mountains, full of hardships and dangers for humans. In 1639, the famous traveler XU Xiake recorded in his Diary of a Journey to Yunnan (VIII-X) the splendor of the rhododendrons he saw in villages and temples along his travels through Yunnan. He also participated in the planting of rhododendrons with local people. XU Xiake, born and raised in Jiangyin (a city now in Jiangsu Province), may have also viewed rhododendrons in his hometown’s gardens and potted plants too. What he admired in Yunnan were, I’m afraid, very different species that were rarely seen by the people living in central and eastern China at that time.
1629年，在地球的另一边，一位法国人在他的著作中首次用rhododendron这个名字来描述杜鹃花，并将其作为园艺种向世人推荐。这个名字来源于希腊语，“rhodon”意为蔷薇（色），“dendron”意为树，合而为一便是花色与蔷薇相近的小乔木。这名字直观地反映了当时的欧洲人对身边常见杜鹃花的印象，和我们的山石榴有着异曲同工之趣。1753年，瑞典植物学家林奈在其著作《植物种志》（Species Plantarum）中建立了杜鹃花属，由此，人们开始探索用全新的方法认识这些美丽的花儿以及它们之间的关系；当时，书中大约描述了10种杜鹃花（其中一部分尚被置于Azalea属中），当时这个属还是一个较小的类群。
In 1629, on the other side of the world, a Frenchman first used the name “rhododendron” to describe these plants in his book and recommended them to the world as horticultural species. The name is derived from the Greek words rhodon, meaning rose (color), and dendron meaning tree, which combine to form a small tree with flowers similar in color to the rose. The name visually reflects the Europeans’ impression of the common rhododendrons at that time and is similar to our Mount pomegranate. In 1753, the Swedish botanist Linnaeus established the genus Rhododendron in his book Species Plantarum, and thus people began to explore new ways of understanding these beautiful flowers and their relationships. His book described ten species of Rhododendron (some of which were placed in the genus Azalea), and the genus was still a small group at that time.
19世纪早期，在人类的影响下，第一种来自中国的杜鹃花——羊踯躅抵达欧洲，惊艳了远方的春天。经过园艺工作者的多方尝试，它的杂交后代遍布西方园林，现已成就“中国最美落叶杜鹃花”之名。19世纪中期以后，以罗伯特·福琼、谭卫道、韩尔礼、亨利·威尔逊、乔治·福雷斯特、弗兰德·金登-沃德等为代表的采集人陆续从中国收集了大量杜鹃花标本、种子和活植物，并将其带回欧美的植物园、博物馆和其他机构。仅百余年，它们引发了极大狂热，影响和改变了世界的园林。通过园艺学家长期的努力，新品种逐年诞生，如今，杜鹃花的品种已超过3万余个。
In the early 19th century, the first Rhododendron from China, Yang-zhi-zhu (R. molle), arrived in Europe. In the decades that followed, collectors such as Robert Fortune, Pere Armand David, Augustine Henry, Ernest Henry Wilson, George Forrest, Frank Kingdon-Ward, and others, collected large numbers of Rhododendron specimens, seeds, and live plants from China and brought them back to botanical gardens, museums, and other institutions in Europe and the United States. The Chinese rhododendrons sparked a great frenzy for over a hundred years that influenced and changed the world’s gardens. Through the long-term efforts of horticulturalists, new varieties are constantly cultivated. Today, there are over 30,000 hybrids of Rhododendron worldwide.
生活在现代的我们，有许多与花中西施邂逅的机会。一位植物学家将杜鹃花称为“中国最长的风景线”——每年3至7月，无论是城市公园、郊野山地还是雪域高原，当然，也可以是这次花展，在从南至北、从东往西的神州大地上，我们可以观赏到野生杜鹃花和它们的园艺后代轰轰烈烈地陆续绽放，红如火焰、粉如云霞、黄若繁星、白若美玉，将最热情、最浓郁的春天长长久久地留在枝头。
Living in modern times, we have many opportunities to encounter rhododendrons. A botanist called them the longest landscape in China. Every year, from March to July, whether in city parks, the countryside, mountains, snowy plateau, or, of course, in this flower show, we can see wild Rhododendron species and their horticultural offspring blooming one after another. From south to north and east to west in China, red like flame, pink like clouds, yellow like stars, and white like jade, creating the most passionate and intense spring on the branches for a long time.
居于我国西南山区的彝族人民世代钟爱杜鹃花，他们在每年春季举行祭拜杜鹃花神的仪式——若当年花开茂盛，便有望获得丰收。春耕的时候，他们抬眼望见簇簇盛放的杜鹃花团，许下富饶繁盛的愿望——过去和现在，鲜花带来的快乐和美好，不仅让诗人倾倒，也点亮了我们每个人的生活。
The Yi people (one of the ethnic groups in China), who live in the mountains of southwest China, have loved rhododendrons for generations. They hold a ceremony each spring to worship the god of rhododendrons. If the plants bloom profusely that year, they are expected to have a good harvest. In the spring, they raise their eyes to the blooming clusters of Rhododendron flowers and make a wish for abundance and prosperity. The joy and beauty of flowers, past and present, have not only captivated poets but have also brightened the lives of all of us.
· 特别鸣谢 ·
感谢我园张力博士和王晖博士，华中科技大学徐昳辰女士和厦门大学叶文博士无私提供杜鹃花属植物照片，感谢我园翟艺繁女士和胡佳玉先生为本文提供了重要参考资料。
We sincerely thank Dr. ZHANG Li and Dr. WANG Hui of our garden, Ms. XU Yichen of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and Dr. YE Wen of Xiamen University for selflessly providing photos of Rhododendron spp. and Ms. ZHAI Yifan and Mr. HU Jiayu of our garden for providing important references for this article.
· 参考资料 ·
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植物智 (http://www.iplant.cn/)
4月8日至17日，2023粤港澳大湾区花展将在主会场深圳市仙湖植物园和分会场香蜜湖·四季花谷举行。
本届花展以“鲜花与梦想”为主题，以杜鹃花为主题花，邀您同追梦想、共筑美好生活。
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