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Yunnan, China |
I
recently received an email from Janina T., a trainee at the RHS Garden, Wisley
in England. She writes "I am a plant
enthusiast (especially trees and shrubs) and therefore I have applied for a
bursary trip to west Yunnan [China] in November 2015 ('In Forrest's
Footsteps'), offered by the International Dendrology Society. Their committee
invited me to an interview in two weeks and I hope to get the chance to travel
to Yunnan. I have no idea what questions they will ask me and I try to prepare
myself as best I can for that interview.
On my research for our next plant
identification (40 conifers) I literally stumbled across your Flora Wonder Blog
and the part where you mention a trip to northwestern Yunnan with other plant
enthusiasts. I would be grateful for every piece of information regarding to
your experience of the plants, people, landscape...literally
everything in Yunnan, and if you feel that this trip has been essential
for your career as well as for yourself."
Wow,
literally everything! First of all, my "career" and
"myself" are pretty much the same thing. But listen Janina, it would
take me a year to email – one finger at a time – literally everything, and at
the same time I have to write this week's blog. But I want to try to help out,
so I'll rehash some previous topics about Yunnan, and hopefully everyone will
come away with something interesting.
Instantly
I like Janina, for her training at Wisley – the world's best garden? – as well
as mentioning that she is originally from Germany. And this woman wants to walk
in Forrest's footsteps – my kind of person for sure. Besides, I like her name.
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Yunnan Province |
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George Forrest |
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Cannabis sativa |
I
bring up Yunnan from time to time in Flora Wonder Blogs because the province is
so well endowed with the type of plants that I like and grow. But let me
confess that some of my blogs are largely smoke
and mirrors, as I am certainly no expert on Yunnan. Most of my plant
knowledge comes from reading, especially from the writings of the Scotsman
George Forrest, as well as biographies of him. I have been to Yunnan only once,
and that was nearly thirty years ago. I know people who have visited more
recently, and they all say, "You can't believe the changes!" It used
to be a long day's jeep ride from the capital of Kunming to the more northern
city of Dali which resides at the foot of Cangshan Mountain. Narrow roads were
constructed out of cheap slick materials, and were dangerous due to the fact
that all Chinese drivers are considerably insane behind the wheel. Now they say
you can tool along at 60 MPH on super highways, but arriving safely without
mishap is still not a guarantee. Now the capital contains millions of denizens
when you could practically walk its width in half a day thirty years
ago...and...what about that beautiful lofty specimen of Cannabis sativa that
was "planted" ½ block away from the main tourist hotel? Is that damn
thing still there...with the purpose of entrapping western tourists and
extracting exorbitant fines?


Betula utilis 'Yunnan'
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Betula calcicola |
Picea likiangensis
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Paris polyphylla var. yunnanense |
You
asked if my experience in Yunnan benefited my career. Not really, I think. I
didn't go there, primarily, to collect new plant species as did George Forrest.
Most species were known to Western horticulture by my time, and there is not a
whole lot left to discover. I did come away with seed from an attractive Betula
utilis, and later with a Betula calcicola collected by Dr. David Hale on a
subsequent trip. The true firs, such as Abies forrestii and the spruce, Picea
likiangensis were fun to experience, but they both have been known to
horticulture for one hundred years. The same is true for Paris polyphylla which
I found growing in the forest litter.
So
I didn't really go to China to discover or to bring back species – I just
wanted to see them endemically. I wanted to visit this "Mother of
Gardens" and to walk in Forrest's footsteps, for throughout my career the
rugged plant collector has been my hero
of horticulture.
Our
group of six was chaperoned by Chinese authorities under the guise of a
"sport department," as if we were mountain climbers, and any plant or
seed collecting would have to be done on the sly. We flew from Beijing to
Kunming where we were met by three smoking goons along with a slick
university-educated functionary named Jin Joon. He announced that our journey
into the mountains would not begin the following morning as planned because it
was "not possible." When pressed, he explained that it was due to a
festival and that the roads would be jammed. We groaned in disbelief, but we
were in their hands now.







It
turned out to be a blessing, for the festival included a parade to
"celebrate" Yunnan's twenty four ethnic minorities. While an official
minority is usually the subject of Han discrimination, the parade was meant to
demonstrate otherwise, like everyone belonged to one big happy Chinese family.
Our group was issued tacky yellow ribbons which we pinned to our chests. I
didn't understand at first, but the ribbons designated VIP status which allowed
us access to the best viewing spots, while the police kept the many thousands
of Chinese behind ropes. Feeling brave, I actually took position on a traffic
island, so I was constantly in the middle of the parade and could take the best
photos.

As
we all saw from the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese sure know how to put on a
show. The ethnic parade featured floats, music and pretty girls, with the star
of the festival a creature of extraordinary beauty. I never did find out which
minority she represented, but mainly I hoped that she wouldn't be forced into
an arranged marriage with a Communist party thug. I was in China pre-Tiananmen,
and the world eventually learned how ruthless those elites could be.
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Pinus tabuliformis |
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Heading to market |
Anyway
Jin Joon led us out of Kunming the following day. Most of the trip is now a
distant blur, but I remember scenic landscapes with terraced farming,
unfortunately with an incredible amount of erosion where red-earth hillsides
were washed away. Nude hills were replanted with pines – Pinus tabuliformis
perhaps – and the locals were prohibited to cut them down for much-needed
firewood. Instead they limbed them up – almost to the top – for their fuel. We
passed thousands of Eucalyptus along the roadsides, and they were limbed the
same way. So the landscape ranged from serene and verdant to horrific
devastation. It was obvious that the Chinese had the ability to totally ruin
the earth (in 1988), but I truly hope that they have learned some lessons since
then.
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Tiger Leaping Gorge |
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Entrance to Dali, China |
The
small town of Dali was interesting, and it was our base for exploring the Tiger
Leaping Gorge of the Yangtze River. As legend has it, the narrow – but most
vertiginous – gorge was jumped by a tiger in a single bound to escape to the
other side. In some places there is a sheer drop of 10,000 feet to the water. I
walked along the trail for five or six miles, happy at last to be away from my
travelling companions, although there were no plants of interest in the area. I
was well within our agreed rendezvous when two of our chaperones showed up in a
huff to escort me back to the group. Their worry was due to the discovery that
a gang of convicts was working the marble mines along the trail – and indeed I
had earlier passed them. My protectors would have been in great trouble, no
doubt, if an American under their charge was murdered and dumped into the
river.
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Chongsheng Santa |
A
short distance north of Dali one will encounter a triangle of three Buddhist
pagodas, known as Chongsheng Santa, or the "Three Pagodas of Saintly
Worship." The middle or tallest is 230 feet (70 meters) and was
constructed in the middle of the ninth century, while the other two were built
200 years later. All were built by the "earth-stacking method,"
whereby terraces of earth were piled around the pagoda as it rose ever higher,
then finally the dirt was removed to reveal the marvelous structure. Miraculously
they have survived earthquakes, and even more amazing is that they survived
Mao's Cultural Revolution.








We
were able to stop at villages and attend several markets. I thought that the
people – men, women and children – were especially good looking, and I never
encountered shouting crabby people like one does in India and other countries.
Also no one begged. I recognized some of the colorful garb and peoples from the
parade, but I regret that I didn't take more time to document the minorities I
encountered. Many wore western clothing – the kind that is now shipped to our
Walmarts – or the drab green outfits of the People.
I am sure there have been many changes since the 1980's, and I would love to go
back, as I now recognize that I was not adequately prepared to appreciate the
China that I was seeing.


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Abies delavayi |
Further
north from Dali was the old town of Lijiang. There also is the new town of
Lijiang, a mess of concrete structures that we all chose to avoid. Lijiang was
our base for exploring the nearby Jade Dragon Mountains, the tallest peak being
over 18,000 feet. I was happy to climb above the tree line, and the last trees
I recall were Abies – forrestii I guess. Some authorities consider A. forrestii
to be a variety of Abies delavayi, but I don't know Asian firs well enough to
comment.
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Yufeng Monastery |
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Camellia trunk |
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Monk at Yufeng |
The
next day, after traipsing through the brush in the morning, we stopped at a
monastery to see the "oldest tree in the world," an espaliered
Camellia in the courtyard.* We were there in the fall so it wasn't in bloom,
but I have seen photos of its pink blossoms with the same attendant monk,
smiling benignly and fingering his prayer beads. He had an absent look like
some people I have encountered who are afflicted with Alzheimer's disease, and
I wondered if it was due to abuse during the Cultural Revolution. An enormous
evergreen Magnolia delavayi hovered at the monastery side, and next to it was
the latrine buzzing with flies. Throughout Yunnan we saw men and women farmers
hauling pails on poles over their shoulders, dumping the treated "night
soil" over their cabbages, and thus we knew how our next meal was
fertilized.
*Actually it was eventually aged to be
500 years old.
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Talon Buchholz in center, Jin Joon to his left |
We
had a couple of beers that night in old Lijiang, and feeling tired I walked
back to our hotel. I learned the next morning that one of our members was lubed
up very well, and he foolishly got into a drinking contest with our Chinese
driver. The Chinese never lose those.
The
next morning I wandered through town with its little canals racing down the
sides of streets. One woman was washing her hair while another was washing
dishes. Old Lijiang consists mainly of the Naxi
people, and I was fascinated to observe this matriarchal tribe. The women wear
the pants while the men tended the gardens and raised children. At a construction
site the men were carrying bricks up the ladder while a formidable woman barked
orders from below with a clipboard in hand. The Naxi believe they came from an
ancestor named Tabu who helped them hatch from magic eggs. For years the old
town supported a stable population of 50,000 people for most of its 800 years,
but now New Lijiang is encroaching, and a 2010 census revealed that it had a
population of 1,244,769.
Today's
blog is sparse on plant photos because I can't remember much, and also to the
fact that I didn't archive my slide photos as a trip, but instead as a
botanical classification. But of course we saw a lot and it would be fun to
return some spring. At times I imagined the ghost of George Forrest coming over
a hill with his trusted assistants carrying specimens back to camp. The real
Forrest was accompanied by his black lab named "Nigger," and he spent
the years 1904-1931 almost continuously in China. One of his adventures was
escaping from the field while barefoot, with murderous lamas in hot pursuit in
an anti-foreigner fervor. He survived that ordeal, but later collapsed and died
suddenly from a heart attack at age 59.* A cemetery exists where he was buried,
but the exact location is unknown as the locals are known to filch grave stones
to be used in new construction.

*Two
excellent biographies are Journeys and Plant Introductions by Dr. J.
Macqueen Cowan and George Forrest, V.M.H. published by the Scottish Rock
Garden Club, but a newer book (2004) George Forrest Plant Hunter by Brenda
McLean is the best.
Forrest
collected over 31,000 herbarium specimens as well as live plants and bulbs, and
everything was documented in his neat handwriting. His Chinese assistants were
so well-trained that plants kept coming after his death, and his legacy is that
Forrest greatly enriched our gardens. He wrote to his brother in December 1905,
"I simply cannot leave those flowers to be discovered by and named after
Frenchmen."
Plants
introduced by Forrest into Britain are quite numerous. All of the photos below
were taken at my nursery or elsewhere, not in Yunnan.
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Rhododendron pronum |
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Rhododendron pronum |
Osmanthus delavayi
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Arisaema candidissimum |
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Rhododendron clementinae |
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Rhododendron proteoides 'Cecil Smith Form' |
Acer davidii 'George Forrest'
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Rhododendron bureavii |
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Rhododendron bureavii |
Rhododendron griersonianum
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Primula prolifera |
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Primula secundiflora |
Rhododendron roxieanum var. oreonastes
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June Sinclair with Rhododendron sinogrande |
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Rhododendron sinogrande |
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Pinus armandii |
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Magnolia campbellii var. mollicomata 'Lanarth' |
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Rhododendron saluenense |
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Berberis jamesiana |
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Daphne tangutica |
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Primula vialii |
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Daphne odora |
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Rhododendron forrestii var. repens |
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Cardiocrinum giganteum var. yunnanense |
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Rhododendron impeditum |
Page
two of the following letter was sent by Forrest to the avid Portland, Oregon
gardener Rae Selling Berry who subscribed (100 £.) to his last expedition. He
laments his departed companion "Nigger."
By
the way Janina, Forrest collected animals as well, and there are six birds with
forrestii specific names, and also a dragonfly, Temnogomphus forrestii.
Hopefully
this blog will provide you with some ammunition for your interview. Keep in
touch and let me know how you do. The entire Flora Wonder readership will be
pulling for you. If selected, work tirelessly just as Forrest did, and document
everything.
Good
luck!
Talon Buchholz
Wonderful job on this, Talon. Enjoyed very much. Thank you. Anxious to read more about Forrest.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great recount of your trip. Loved he photographs too - especially those of the people you met/saw. Such an ancient and fascinating culture!
ReplyDeleteTaking this opportunity to thank you for your thoughtful commentary, for expanding my view of plants and plant people, and always always always such beautiful photos!
ReplyDelete