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| 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.
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| Carpinus fangiana |
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| Carpinus fangiana |
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| 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.
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| Armand David |
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| Davidia involucrata 'Sonoma' |
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| 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.”
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| Davidia involucrata 'Platt's Variegated' |
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| Davidia involucrata 'Platt's Variegated' |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Illicium henryi |
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| 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.
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| Euscaphis japonica |
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| Euscaphis japonica |
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| 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.
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| Rhododendron pachytrichum |
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| Rhododendron pachytrichum |
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| 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.
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| Rhododendron strigillosum |
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| Rhododendron strigillosum |
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| Rhododendron strigillosum |
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| 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.
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| Rhododendron williamsianum |
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| Rhododendron williamsianum |
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| Rhododendron williamsianum |
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| 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.
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| Rhododendron lutescens |
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| 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.
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| Rehderodendron macrocarpum |
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| Rehderodendron macrocarpum |
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| 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.
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| Pterostyrax hispida |
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| 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.
