Wellcome!
杜鹃花
花中西施——杜鹃花（Rhododendron）
其一：
闲折两枝持在手，细看不是人间有。
花中此物是西施，芙蓉芍药皆嫫母。
其二：
玉泉南涧花真怪，不似花丛似火堆。
今日多情唯我到，每年无故为谁开？
宁辞辛苦行三里，更与留连饮两杯。
犹有一般辜负事，不将歌舞管弦来。
每次读到唐朝大诗人白居易的这些佳句，我们都很容易感受到杜鹃花那超群异常、高雅脱俗的美丽。每至仲春时节，全国大江南北，杜鹃怒放，万紫千红，缤纷灿烂，美不胜收，真可谓“赤橙黄绿青兰紫，谁持彩练当空舞”。曾有一位外国朋友登上云南大理的点苍山，看到漫山遍野盛开的杜鹃花，热泪盈眶地惊呼到：“上帝啊！这就是我要找的天堂！”
传说，远古时候蜀国国君望帝杜宇，被人暗杀而死化成杜鹃鸟。杜鹃鸟啼声哀怨，不到吐血啼声不止。每年四月清明节，杜鹃鸟哀怨声声，杜鹃花开得如火似血，人们都说，红红的杜鹃花是杜鹃鸟吐血染成的，所以就有了“杜鹃啼处血成花”、“鲜红滴滴映霞月，尽是冤禽血染成”、“楼外柳高欲断魂，杜宇声声不忍闻”等诗句。
其实，尼泊尔的国花——杜鹃花是杜鹃花科杜鹃花属植物的通称，多为常绿或落叶灌木，但乔木或匍匐、附生种也有，比较少见。杜鹃花历史悠久，起源于中生代白垩纪（距今约6700万年），曾广泛分布于北半球，由于受第三纪干旱和第四纪冰川的侵袭，仅亚洲东部保存较为完好。在中国，杜鹃花作为药用植物在民间应用已久，早在《神农本草经》（公元220—265年）中就记载：“踯躅（即杜鹃花）味温辛，主贼风在皮肤中淫淫痛，温疟恶毒诸痹”。南北朝时，陶弘景撰《本草经集注》（公元492年）中也有“羊踯躅，羊食其叶，踯躅而死，故名”的记载。杜鹃花用于栽培观赏则大致始于唐代，据《丹徒县志》记载：“鹤林寺杜鹃花，……相传唐贞元元年（公元785年）有外国僧自天台钵孟中以药养根来种之，……后因兵火焚寺，根株不存，宋咸淳8年（公元1272年）寺僧庆清，移以踯躅补其旧……”。鹤林寺僧人所栽杜鹃花当为浙江山野映山红的一种。唐代大诗人白居易（公元772—846年）对杜鹃花最为喜爱，曾数次移栽庭院。明代中叶张志淳《永昌二芳记》中卷记载云南保山杜鹃共有20种。公元1563年李之阳纂修的《大理府志》称：杜鹃“谱有四十七品”，可见当时就已有人将山野所产杜鹃花分类编谱。清代陈浩子在《花镜》（公元1688年）中已有关于杜鹃花的习性和栽培经验的总结。顾禄在《桐桥倚掉录》（约公元1821—1850年）中已提到“洋茶、洋鹃、山茶、山鹃……”，可见此那时就已有外国的杜鹃花传入中国。
18世纪瑞典植物学家林奈在《植物种志》（公元1735年）中建立了杜鹃花属RHODODENDRON。19世纪中叶，英国在喜马拉雅山考察，发现大量杜鹃花新种，引起各国对中国西南高山地区杜鹃花资源的注意，19世纪至20世纪中，英、法、美、德、俄等国的植物学家深入中国西南及华东等地调查采集，共发表新种482种。外国人从云南采回的杜鹃花，培育出了上千个杜鹃花品种，所以至今欧美园艺界都还普遍认为，如没有中国的花卉，就不成其为花园。
解放以前，英国爱丁堡皇家植物园曾先后7次派专家、博士到中国云南，一共采集了31000多号标本，带走了6000余种植物，其中包括多种杜鹃花。所以至今在英国爱丁堡皇家植物园里都还有以中国杜鹃花为主体的杜鹃花园。
云南腾冲县境内高黎贡山西坡，有一株高达28米，基围近10米的大树杜鹃，被人们誉为“世界杜鹃之王”。1919年，英国爱丁堡皇家植物园采集员傅礼士，就是在这里砍倒一棵高75米，径围2.6米，树龄280年的大树杜鹃，并锯了一段树干做标本，经缅甸、印度等辗转运到英国，至今都还陈列在大英博物馆里。
实际上，杜鹃花种类特别丰富，全属约有900种，亚洲约产850种，其中中国约有530种，新几内亚——马来西亚约有280种。此外，北美分布有24种，欧洲分布有9种，大洋洲分布1种。但是现在，全世界有杜鹃花800多种，中国有460多种，而云南就占了420种，堪称世界杜鹃花的中心。
通过广大园林园艺工作者的不断付出，艰辛努力，今天，杜鹃花已是遍布世界各地的著名花卉。
The Beauty among Flowers –Azalea (Rhododendron)
Poem A:
Holding two pieces in one"s hands,
One will think they are heavenly.
A beauty amidst all flowers,
Other flowers are so ugly beside you.
Poem B:
Flowers of the south bank are so exotic,
They look like fires instead of flowers.
Why do you blossom for me especially?
Who is your favorite in the past?
I’d rather take the long journey,
I’d like to drink with you.
But it might be a great pity,
For I forget to take a band with me.
Every time when I read these poems by Bai Juyi, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty, I cannot help thinking of the exuberant and elegant azaleas. In each mid-spring, in places on both banks of the Yangtze River, the azaleas are in full blossom; they are in a riot of colors, and are so beautiful that our eyes can not absorb them at one time. The scene is really like a fairy dancing in the middle of the air with a colorful ribbon. Once a foreign friend climbed on Mount Dianchang, Dali, Yunnan, and he sighted azaleas in their full blossoms all over the mountains and fields. He shouted with tears in his eyes: “My God! Here is the paradise I’m always pursuing!”
The story goes: long, long ago, the king of the ancient Shu Kingdom, Du Yu, transmigrated into a cuckoo after he was assassinated. The bird always sang bitterly, and it did not stop until blood came out from its bills. In each April, when the air is full of the cuckoo’s whines, azaleas are in blossom like flames. According to folklores, the cuckoo’s blood dyes the azalea flower into red; therefore, many poets in the ancient Chinese literary history chose to write such topics, such as “blood turns into flowers where cuckoo cries”; “the bright redness casts light on the Moon, and the Moon turned red by the wronged cuckoo’s blood”; “a mournful song sneaks into the building from outside, and it’s unbearable to hear such bitter cries”, etc.
As a matter of fact, the national flower of Nepal, the Azalea, is the general name for many types of azaleas. Azaleas are generally evergreen or deciduous bushes; but we can see a few arbor or crawling azaleas by chances too. Azaleas have a long-standing history; they originated in the Cretaceous period (about 67,000,000 years from now) and scattered widely in the northern hemisphere. However, stricken by the drought in the Tertiary period and the glaciers of the Quaternary period, azaleas only survived in the eastern part of Asia. The Chinese people have been using azaleas as a medicinal material for quite a long time, which can be proved by many records in ancient Chinese medicinal books. The famous poet of the Tang Dynasty, Bai Juyi(772-846 A.D.), was quite fond of azaleas, and transplanted many azaleas in his yard.
In the 18th century, a Swedish botanist, Linne, established Rhododendron in his book entitled “Records of Plant Species”(1735). In the mid 19th century, some British botanists had an expedition to the Himalayan Mountain areas, and they found many new species of azaleas there, which attracted the attention of botanists in all countries. Therefore, from the 19th century to the mid 20th century, the botanists of Britain, France, America, Germany and Russia, etc., swarmed to Southwest China and East China to investigate and collect various azaleas with 482 new types discovered. These foreigners brought these azaleas of Yunnan back and cultivated more than a thousand species. So up to now, people in the horticultural circles in Europe and America still believe that there won’t be any garden without flowers from China.
Before the establishment of the New China in 1949, the Royal Botanical Garden in Edinburgh of Britain dispatched 7 teams consisting of experts and doctors in botany to the Yunnan province of China. Altogether, they collected more than 31,000 specimens and took away with them more than 6000 plant species, among which there are many types of azaleas. That’s why the Royal Botanical Garden in Edinburgh still use the azaleas of China as its major displaying flowers.
On the mountain slopes of Mount Gaoligong in Tengchong, Yunnan, there is a huge azalea tree with a girth periphery of nearly 10 meters. It is praised as the “king of azaleas in the world”. In 1919, a botanist of the Royal Botanical Garden in Edinburgh, Britain, cut down a huge azalea tree with a height of 75 meters, a girth periphery of 2.6 meters, and an age of 280 years. He sawed a section of the tree and made it into a piece of specimen. It was transported into Britain by way of Burma and India, and today is still lying in the Museum of Great Britain. Azaleas have many varieties actually; altogether, the varieties total to more than 900, among which Asia takes up 850 varieties, China has about 530 varieties, and New Guinea and Malaysia have about 280 varieties. Besides, North America has 24 varieties, Europe 9, and Antarctic 1. Nowadays, more than 800 varieties of azaleas are still in existence; among them, China has more than 460 varieties, among which Yunnan account for 420 varieties. China really deserves the honor - “the world center of azalea flowers”.
Thanks to the backbreaking labors by gardeners for many years, azaleas have become a famed type of flowers on our planet.
其一：
闲折两枝持在手，细看不是人间有。
花中此物是西施，芙蓉芍药皆嫫母。
其二：
玉泉南涧花真怪，不似花丛似火堆。
今日多情唯我到，每年无故为谁开？
宁辞辛苦行三里，更与留连饮两杯。
犹有一般辜负事，不将歌舞管弦来。
每次读到唐朝大诗人白居易的这些佳句，我们都很容易感受到杜鹃花那超群异常、高雅脱俗的美丽。每至仲春时节，全国大江南北，杜鹃怒放，万紫千红，缤纷灿烂，美不胜收，真可谓“赤橙黄绿青兰紫，谁持彩练当空舞”。曾有一位外国朋友登上云南大理的点苍山，看到漫山遍野盛开的杜鹃花，热泪盈眶地惊呼到：“上帝啊！这就是我要找的天堂！”
传说，远古时候蜀国国君望帝杜宇，被人暗杀而死化成杜鹃鸟。杜鹃鸟啼声哀怨，不到吐血啼声不止。每年四月清明节，杜鹃鸟哀怨声声，杜鹃花开得如火似血，人们都说，红红的杜鹃花是杜鹃鸟吐血染成的，所以就有了“杜鹃啼处血成花”、“鲜红滴滴映霞月，尽是冤禽血染成”、“楼外柳高欲断魂，杜宇声声不忍闻”等诗句。
其实，尼泊尔的国花——杜鹃花是杜鹃花科杜鹃花属植物的通称，多为常绿或落叶灌木，但乔木或匍匐、附生种也有，比较少见。杜鹃花历史悠久，起源于中生代白垩纪（距今约6700万年），曾广泛分布于北半球，由于受第三纪干旱和第四纪冰川的侵袭，仅亚洲东部保存较为完好。在中国，杜鹃花作为药用植物在民间应用已久，早在《神农本草经》（公元220—265年）中就记载：“踯躅（即杜鹃花）味温辛，主贼风在皮肤中淫淫痛，温疟恶毒诸痹”。南北朝时，陶弘景撰《本草经集注》（公元492年）中也有“羊踯躅，羊食其叶，踯躅而死，故名”的记载。杜鹃花用于栽培观赏则大致始于唐代，据《丹徒县志》记载：“鹤林寺杜鹃花，……相传唐贞元元年（公元785年）有外国僧自天台钵孟中以药养根来种之，……后因兵火焚寺，根株不存，宋咸淳8年（公元1272年）寺僧庆清，移以踯躅补其旧……”。鹤林寺僧人所栽杜鹃花当为浙江山野映山红的一种。唐代大诗人白居易（公元772—846年）对杜鹃花最为喜爱，曾数次移栽庭院。明代中叶张志淳《永昌二芳记》中卷记载云南保山杜鹃共有20种。公元1563年李之阳纂修的《大理府志》称：杜鹃“谱有四十七品”，可见当时就已有人将山野所产杜鹃花分类编谱。清代陈浩子在《花镜》（公元1688年）中已有关于杜鹃花的习性和栽培经验的总结。顾禄在《桐桥倚掉录》（约公元1821—1850年）中已提到“洋茶、洋鹃、山茶、山鹃……”，可见此那时就已有外国的杜鹃花传入中国。
18世纪瑞典植物学家林奈在《植物种志》（公元1735年）中建立了杜鹃花属RHODODENDRON。19世纪中叶，英国在喜马拉雅山考察，发现大量杜鹃花新种，引起各国对中国西南高山地区杜鹃花资源的注意，19世纪至20世纪中，英、法、美、德、俄等国的植物学家深入中国西南及华东等地调查采集，共发表新种482种。外国人从云南采回的杜鹃花，培育出了上千个杜鹃花品种，所以至今欧美园艺界都还普遍认为，如没有中国的花卉，就不成其为花园。
解放以前，英国爱丁堡皇家植物园曾先后7次派专家、博士到中国云南，一共采集了31000多号标本，带走了6000余种植物，其中包括多种杜鹃花。所以至今在英国爱丁堡皇家植物园里都还有以中国杜鹃花为主体的杜鹃花园。
云南腾冲县境内高黎贡山西坡，有一株高达28米，基围近10米的大树杜鹃，被人们誉为“世界杜鹃之王”。1919年，英国爱丁堡皇家植物园采集员傅礼士，就是在这里砍倒一棵高75米，径围2.6米，树龄280年的大树杜鹃，并锯了一段树干做标本，经缅甸、印度等辗转运到英国，至今都还陈列在大英博物馆里。
实际上，杜鹃花种类特别丰富，全属约有900种，亚洲约产850种，其中中国约有530种，新几内亚——马来西亚约有280种。此外，北美分布有24种，欧洲分布有9种，大洋洲分布1种。但是现在，全世界有杜鹃花800多种，中国有460多种，而云南就占了420种，堪称世界杜鹃花的中心。
通过广大园林园艺工作者的不断付出，艰辛努力，今天，杜鹃花已是遍布世界各地的著名花卉。
The Beauty among Flowers –Azalea (Rhododendron)
Poem A:
Holding two pieces in one"s hands,
One will think they are heavenly.
A beauty amidst all flowers,
Other flowers are so ugly beside you.
Poem B:
Flowers of the south bank are so exotic,
They look like fires instead of flowers.
Why do you blossom for me especially?
Who is your favorite in the past?
I’d rather take the long journey,
I’d like to drink with you.
But it might be a great pity,
For I forget to take a band with me.
Every time when I read these poems by Bai Juyi, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty, I cannot help thinking of the exuberant and elegant azaleas. In each mid-spring, in places on both banks of the Yangtze River, the azaleas are in full blossom; they are in a riot of colors, and are so beautiful that our eyes can not absorb them at one time. The scene is really like a fairy dancing in the middle of the air with a colorful ribbon. Once a foreign friend climbed on Mount Dianchang, Dali, Yunnan, and he sighted azaleas in their full blossoms all over the mountains and fields. He shouted with tears in his eyes: “My God! Here is the paradise I’m always pursuing!”
The story goes: long, long ago, the king of the ancient Shu Kingdom, Du Yu, transmigrated into a cuckoo after he was assassinated. The bird always sang bitterly, and it did not stop until blood came out from its bills. In each April, when the air is full of the cuckoo’s whines, azaleas are in blossom like flames. According to folklores, the cuckoo’s blood dyes the azalea flower into red; therefore, many poets in the ancient Chinese literary history chose to write such topics, such as “blood turns into flowers where cuckoo cries”; “the bright redness casts light on the Moon, and the Moon turned red by the wronged cuckoo’s blood”; “a mournful song sneaks into the building from outside, and it’s unbearable to hear such bitter cries”, etc.
As a matter of fact, the national flower of Nepal, the Azalea, is the general name for many types of azaleas. Azaleas are generally evergreen or deciduous bushes; but we can see a few arbor or crawling azaleas by chances too. Azaleas have a long-standing history; they originated in the Cretaceous period (about 67,000,000 years from now) and scattered widely in the northern hemisphere. However, stricken by the drought in the Tertiary period and the glaciers of the Quaternary period, azaleas only survived in the eastern part of Asia. The Chinese people have been using azaleas as a medicinal material for quite a long time, which can be proved by many records in ancient Chinese medicinal books. The famous poet of the Tang Dynasty, Bai Juyi(772-846 A.D.), was quite fond of azaleas, and transplanted many azaleas in his yard.
In the 18th century, a Swedish botanist, Linne, established Rhododendron in his book entitled “Records of Plant Species”(1735). In the mid 19th century, some British botanists had an expedition to the Himalayan Mountain areas, and they found many new species of azaleas there, which attracted the attention of botanists in all countries. Therefore, from the 19th century to the mid 20th century, the botanists of Britain, France, America, Germany and Russia, etc., swarmed to Southwest China and East China to investigate and collect various azaleas with 482 new types discovered. These foreigners brought these azaleas of Yunnan back and cultivated more than a thousand species. So up to now, people in the horticultural circles in Europe and America still believe that there won’t be any garden without flowers from China.
Before the establishment of the New China in 1949, the Royal Botanical Garden in Edinburgh of Britain dispatched 7 teams consisting of experts and doctors in botany to the Yunnan province of China. Altogether, they collected more than 31,000 specimens and took away with them more than 6000 plant species, among which there are many types of azaleas. That’s why the Royal Botanical Garden in Edinburgh still use the azaleas of China as its major displaying flowers.
On the mountain slopes of Mount Gaoligong in Tengchong, Yunnan, there is a huge azalea tree with a girth periphery of nearly 10 meters. It is praised as the “king of azaleas in the world”. In 1919, a botanist of the Royal Botanical Garden in Edinburgh, Britain, cut down a huge azalea tree with a height of 75 meters, a girth periphery of 2.6 meters, and an age of 280 years. He sawed a section of the tree and made it into a piece of specimen. It was transported into Britain by way of Burma and India, and today is still lying in the Museum of Great Britain. Azaleas have many varieties actually; altogether, the varieties total to more than 900, among which Asia takes up 850 varieties, China has about 530 varieties, and New Guinea and Malaysia have about 280 varieties. Besides, North America has 24 varieties, Europe 9, and Antarctic 1. Nowadays, more than 800 varieties of azaleas are still in existence; among them, China has more than 460 varieties, among which Yunnan account for 420 varieties. China really deserves the honor - “the world center of azalea flowers”.
Thanks to the backbreaking labors by gardeners for many years, azaleas have become a famed type of flowers on our planet.
