Icones Plantarum Omeiensium

Mount Emei

Volume 1 Number 1

Edited by Wen-Pei Fang PhD Professor

Department of Biology

College of Science

National Szechuan University

Chengtu and Omei-Hsien (War-time address)

Szechuan, China

published by:

The National Szechuan University May 1942

Ok, what's all of this about? “Icones” is an acronym for the

International Conference on Natural and Environmental Sciences.

The large, flimsy 1942 thin-paper publication is a compendium of plant profiles in English along with wonderful black-and-white detailed drawings. Then there's an intrigue of Chinese characters on the pages behind the English plant descriptions which, I don't know, are probably the translations in the Chinese language. The production is timidly signed in blue ink by Fen Wen-Pei himself, and I assume that the Plantarum Omeiensium is a synopsis of flora native to the famous plant hot-spot Mt. Emei (Emeishan), AKA Mt. Omei, the 10,167' (3,099m) peak which is the highest of the four sacred Buddhist mountains of China, and which was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. The mountain is known for its high level of endemism and approximately 200 unique plant species have been documented upon its flanks.

So, the Table of Contents lists 50 of these plants, which are not at all in alphabetical order – but perhaps they are from some Chinese point-of-view? Remember, China developed a culture that recognizes 5 earth directions: 1) north, 2) south, 3) east, 4) west and 5) straight down, as into the middle of the earth which China sits perfectly atop.

Carpinus fangiana

Carpinus fangiana

Carpinus fangiana

The first listing in Fang's Omeiensium is, appropriately, Carpinus fangiana Hu, commonly called the “monkeytail hornbeam” due to its impressively dangling fruiting catkins which can size to nearly a foot (30 cm) long. While considered a “new” tree to cultivation, it was actually described in the Journal of the Arnold Arboretum in 1929 where it was named Carpinus Wilsoniana [sic]. Grimshaw and Bayton refer in their New Trees publication to Keitch Rushforth's (1985) comment that Carpinus is a “neglected genus” because the “plants' beauties are subtle...but the connoisseur of elegance will find much to appreciate.” There's nothing subtle about C. fangiana, however, where the largest tree I have seen in America is at Oregon's Hertiage Seedlings. Unfortunately, New Trees suggests that the species is hardy to only USDA zone 7,8. The Hillier Manual of Trees and Shrubs recounts: “In the primitive forests in the mountains of Sichuan's Leibo County, Roy Lancaster, in 1993, saw individuals of this species up to 20 m, accompanied by Tetracentron sinense, Davidia involucrata, Castanopsis platyacantha and Cercidiphyllum japonicum var. sinense.” Seems like a good beginning to a world-class arboretum.

Armand David

Davidia involucrata 'Sonoma'

Davidia involucrata 'Sonoma'

So, Davidia involucrata is in the same Mt. Omei neighborhood as C. fangiana, and, not to belittle E.H. “Chinese” Wilson's toilsome task to introduce the “Dove tree” to horticulture in the early 1900's, the Omeiensium claims that Davidia “is very common in the southwestern Szechnan [sic],” and that “On Mt. Omei 2000 meters above sea level.” The monotypic genus was discovered by the French missionary Pere Armand David in western Sichuan in 1869, and the French botanist Henri Ernest Baillon (1827-1895) bestowed the generic name in 1871. Two years after Baillon died, another French missionary, Abbe Farges, sent seed to Vilmorin in Paris and one germinated, now coined var. vilmoriniana, which beat Wilson to the punch by a few years. Before the specific epithet involucrata (which refers to prominent flower bracts) was accepted, Fang proposed the earlier name of Davidia tibetana. He describes the flowers as andro-monoecious which means having male and hermaphrodite flowers on the same plant, and as apetalous which means without petals. The white bracts are what ornamentally count, though, and they give rise to the moniker “Pocket-handkerchief tree.”

Davidia involucrata 'Platt's Variegated'

Davidia involucrata 'Platt's Variegated'

Davidia involucrata 'Lady Sunshine'

A Davidia curiousity is a tree in Portland's Platt garden which I propagated and named 'Platt's Variegated', although the “variegation” was merely the preponderance of half-leaf, half-bract growth. It was unworthy of cultivar status because it required some age before that feature would develop. Fortunately we now have some excellent variegated Davidias from Japan, and perhaps the best of all is 'Lady Sunshine', from Oregon's Crispin Silva.

Magnolia officinalis

Magnolia officinalis is presented in the compendium and is described as “usually a handsome tree with giant foliage and showy flowers and has commonly been cultivated in the temples on Mount Omei as a garden favourite as well as cultivated by the inhabitants for the medicinal uses of its bark and floral buds.” It has been used in traditional medicine for a number of ailments including anxiety, stress, nervousness, sleep-related problems and depression. Hmm, I suffer from all of the above except for the depression.

Illicium henryi

Illicium henryi

Illicium henryi is placed by Fang in the Magnolia family, Magnoliaceae, but now it is classified in the Schisandraceae family.* The generic name is derived from Latin illicere meaning “to allure” in reference to its fragrance, while the specific epithet honors the Irish botanist Augustine Henry (1857-1930) who hunted for plants in China. Not to seem naughty, but I am a fan of the illicit, so I just now walked down to Greenhouse 23 to pick off and crush a leaf of the evergreen shrub and the odour reminded me of my grandmother's kitchen. The blossoms are beginning to open on our small one-gallon plants for additional fun.

*Or, as the sole genus of the Illiciaceae family.

Euscaphis japonica

Euscaphis japonica

Euscaphis japonica

I've had Euscaphis japonica in the collection for about 30 years, and though it is a showy small tree it is inexplicably absent from The Hillier Manual of Trees and Shrubs. Bean in Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles gives brief mention that “It is not very hardy, and can be grown outside permanently only in the mildest localities.” With more bravado the Missouri Botanic Garden claims it is hardy to USDA zone 6. With a range from Japan to Korea to Sichuan, China, maybe there is a locale hardy to zone 6, but I've always kept my trees in a protective greenhouse. It is commonly called the “Korean Sweetheart tree” in reference to the heart-shaped seed pods; the scientific name* comes from Greek Eu for “good” and scaphis meaning a “vessel” due to the shape of the seed pod. My start originated from seed collected by the late J.C. Raulston of the North Carolina State Arboretum who participated in a US National Arboretum collecting expedition in 1985. Fang says that it is “A very nice small tree or shrub occurring commonly in the forests or along the roadside near the foot of Mount Omei. Its black seeds and purple aril as well as the seed-coat resemble the eye of the chicken. Therefore it is locally known as Chi-yen-ching in this mountain.”

*It was originally classified as Sambucus japonica by Thunberg in 1784 and as Euscaphis staphyleoides by Siebold et Zuccarini in 1835.

Rhododendron pachytrichum

Rhododendron pachytrichum

Adrien Rene Franchet

Rhododendron pachytrichum was named in 1886 by French botanist Adrien Rene Franchet (1834-1900) who was based at the Paris Museum of Natural History. He specialized in the flora of China and Japan and dealt with the many collections gathered by the French missionaries such as Armand David, Paul Farges, Jean-Andre Soulie, Pierre Jean Maria Delavay and others. Franchet chose the specific epithet pachytrichum – meaning “thick hairs” – due to the “shaggy branched hairs on the petioles, young branchlets and midribs of the lower surface of the leaves.” Fang continues: “On Mount Omei it grows mixed with Rhodo. Pingianum Fang under the forests of Abies delavayi and Tsuga yunnanensis.” The latter two conifers were also named by Franchet. The white or rose or purple-magenta corolla is companulate, and certainly attractive in bloom, but I most admire the evergreen species for its elegant form, especially the way the attractive, long green leaves lie horizontally.

Rhododendron strigillosum

Rhododendron strigillosum

Rhododendron strigillosum

Rhododendron 'Taurus'

Another hairy Rhododendron found on Mt. Omei is Rhododendron strigillosum, and yes it too was named by Franchet (1886). It is a species with a slow rate of growth, or at least my one plant has been restrained. It is an attractive foliage plant – as long as you keep weevils off of it – due to long narrow leaves. Surrounding the flower buds the leaf petioles display noticeable reddish hairs, and it is known in China as mang ci dujuan, or “prickly rhododendron.” The definition of strigillosum is that which has a strigil, an instrument with a curved blade, used by ancient Greeks and Romans for scraping the skin at the bath. Anyway, R. strigillosum features blood-red flowers that bloom as early as March, so you'll see it planted in some of the world's top winter gardens. It was introduced into England by “Chinese” Wilson in 1904 when he was collecting for the Veitch Nursery firm. My start came from friend Reuben Hatch who has a nice form of the species, as variations in the wild occur and some plants bloom with a washed-out red blossom. R. strigillosum is a parent of some notable hybrids, my favorite being 'Taurus', bred with Jean Marie de Montague by the late plantsman Frank Mossman of Vancouver, Washington.

Rhododendron williamsianum

Rhododendron williamsianum

Rhododendron williamsianum

Caerhays Castle

Rhododendron williamsianum is a dwarf evergreen shrub with a dense, mounding form. Fang writes: “This pretty Rhododendron was first discovered by Wilson from Wa-shan and we have found that it is fairly common at the vicinity of Lei-tung-ping. The flowers of the Omei plants have 11 to 14 stamens and the leaves are slightly larger than those of the type from Wa-shan.” The species was named for John Charles Williams (1861-1939) who at age 18 inherited the Caerhays estate in Cornwall, England, and the garden now hosts one of four National Magnolia Collections. Williams had the money and zeal to sponsor plant hunting expeditions in order to fill the castle garden with new acquisitions. Seeds brought back from China by Wilson were donated to Williams by Harry Veitch who sent Wilson to China in the first place. By 1917 the garden had over 250 types of rhododendron, along with a lot of camellia and azalea.

Rhododendron lutescens

Rhododendron lutescens 'Bagshot Sands'

I'll mention one last Rhododendron from Mt. Omei, R. lutescens, although I could go on with a number more. R. lutescens should not be confused with R. luteum, for the latter is a deciduous azalea from the Caucasus and Turkey. Hillier describes R. lutescens nicely: “Its primrose-yellow, funnel-shaped flowers, from February to April, and bronze-red young leaves are especially effective in thin woodland.” Then, a stern reminder: “Regular shelter to protect its early flowers.” Perhaps an improvement on the species is the cultivar 'Bagshot Sands', and an impressive specimen of that can be found at the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden in Washington state. Fang states: “This species is fairly common in western Szechuan.” Another named by Franchet.

Rehderodendron macrocarpum

Rehderodendron macrocarpum

Alfred Rehder

When Fang wrote about Rehderodendron macrocarpum in 1942 it had been discovered on Mt. Omei only a decade before by F.T. Wang, according to Hillier, then it was introduced by Professor Hu in 1934. Both Hillier and Fang's Omeiensium call it a “small tree,” but I've seen one rather large at the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle. Hillier writes, “A magnificent species, in garden merit equal to the best Styrax,” and indeed it is in the Styracaceae family. Fang claims, “This is the type species of the genus which was discovered by the writer [Fang] in 1928.” So, Fang or Wang, I don't know. Fang continues, “This ornamental tree is highly estimated not only for the beautiful white flowers but also for the red fruits which resemble a woody pepo. Therefore it has colloquially called as Mu-kua-hung which means a red woody pepo.” I didn't know what a “pepo” was, so I looked it up to find that it is the characteristic fruit of plants of the gourd family, having a fleshy, many-seeded interior and a hard or firm rind, as in a cucumber or melon. In any case the genus was named for Alfred Rehder (1863-1949), a taxonomist and dendrologist at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston. Rehder, along with Franchet, named many of E.H. Wilson's new introductions from China.

Pterostyrax hispida

Pterostyrax hispida

Pterostyrax hispida is also in the Styracaceae family, although Fang's epithet is hispidus, but maybe that's how botanists Siebold and Zuccarini originally labeled it. Hispida is a Latin word meaning “with rough hairs or bristles,” and in this case it is the spindle-shaped fruits that are bristly. Hillier says that “The fragrant white flowers are borne in June and July, in drooping panicles up to 23 cm long,” and due to that decoration it is commonly called the “Epaulette tree.”

I'm long in the tooth now and I doubt that I'll ever return to China, but if I did the Omeishan area would be fun to explore. Fang's ICONES PLANTARUM Omeiensium made me daydream about China, “The Mother of Gardens.”

I wish I could know more about Wen-Pei Fang, especially about the latter part of his career. He was considered an expert on Rhododendrons and Acer species. He worked at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in the Institute of Botany, then furthered his education at the University of Edinburgh in 1934 and received his PhD in 1937. In 1937 he returned to China to become a biology professor at Sichuan University until his death in 1983. Fang identified more than 100 new species of plants, of which he named more than 40, publishing 8 monographs as “one of the most distinguished Chinese botanists.” But I wonder how his career really went, how he fared, for example, in Mao's Cultural Revolution? Was he belittled, denounced, tortured? The intellectual elite were often forced to do manual labor and re-educate themselves. One can imagine a Rhododendron expert being subject to derision...until later when China eventually snapped out of its historical funk, its Cultural Insanity.