Rare and Precious Wild Flowers of China ( I ) [By:Feng Kuomei]

    On her extensive land area of 9.6 million square kilometer with complex natural conditions of frigid. temperate and tropical zones from tie north down to the south. China boasts a flora of over 30,000 species of higher plants-one of the richest in the Northern Hemisphere. Many of the important garden plants. such as cymbidiums. chrysanthemums, camellias, rhododendrons, Japanese apricot (Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc). magnolias, primulas, gentians and the dove tree (Davidia involucrata Baill.) are native to this land. China is one of the centres of origin of cultivated flowers in the world.

    The industrial revolution in Europe stimulated the advancement of science and technology which gave impetus to the development of gardening and floriculture. Great Britain in particular, on becoming a world power at the beginning of the 19th century, sent a large number of people deep into the Changjiang River valley and southwest China. They collected huge amounts of specimens of plants with economical values and sent back seeds of thousands of Chinese plants. especially the precious and rare ones from the unique flower germplasm resources. Many of those plants, with camellias. rhododendrons and roses as well known examples, have been improved and bred into brilliant new cultivars, which are indispensable planting materials in English gardens and are multiplied in large quantities in commercialized production for sale throughout the world. "There is no garden in this country [America] or in Europe that is without its Chinese representatives", wrote Ernest Henry Wilson, who came to China five times between 1899 and 1918, first sent by the English nursery firm of Vetch and Sons, and then by the Arnold Arboretum of America, for plant hunting. He entitled his book China-Mother of Gardens (1929) and praised China for her wealth of flower resources. And she well deserves this honour.

    However, due to the long period of feudal rule in the past, gardens and flowers remained mere objects for poetry composition by men of letters in China, not being developed and utilized as fully as they should have been. Today, having raised the standard of living, people begin to gain a better knowledge about flowers and to show greater interests towards them. But the resources of the marvellous and valuable wild flowers native to China are still known to few people, so that most of these precious treasures remain in the mountains and fields to emerge and perish of themselves, without being introduced into gardens. Considering this, we have produced this book of Rare and Precious Wild Flowers of China as an introduction about the abundant resources of flowers in China, with scientific descriptions in concise form and illustrations in color, which will facilitate identification, rend information readily available to horticultural educators and researchers, garden landscape architects, nurserymen, flow lovers, developers of enterprises and ins tutions, for planned purposeful use and better conservation of this priceless heritage endowed by Nature. Meanwhile, it our hope that this book will help travellers to better enjoy the charming and ul natural scenes of our country, and will contribute to promotion of international contacts.

    This book covers 1000 wild ornamental plants and is to be published in three volumes, each giving accounts of over 300 species or infraspecific taxa of them. The angiosperms are arranged according to the order of families of Hutchinson's system of classification with minor supplements For each plant are included Latin name, family name, morphological description, geographical distribution habitat, means of propagation, merit and use in horticulture, accompanied by exquisite color photograph. References and index of Latin names are appended at the end.

By: Feng Kuomei