在中国狩猎植物

文/简·欧文 译/修文乔

The stories of how familiar plants arrived in our plots help add swash and buckle to gardens.The German plant hunter Philipp Seibold, who gave western gardens the flowering cherry Prunus x sieboldii, was arrested and accused of high treason in Japan; the Scot David Douglas1戴维·道格拉斯（1799—1834），英国著名植物猎人。他生前一共为英国引入大约240 种植物。为了纪念他，80 多种动植物的科学名称被命名为douglasii。, famed for the Douglas fir, died in 1834 when he fell down a bull pit trap in Hawaii; and his compatriot George Forrest, who collected thousands of plants from China including the early flowering Camellia saluenensis, escaped with two arrows through his hat after the rest of his party was killed in Yunnan in 1905.

2Inspired by these planterly adventures I joined an RHS Plant Seekers’tour to explore the flora in a Yunnan valley, where some of the west’s 10,000 or so Chinese garden plants and flowers originate.

说起熟悉的植物何以进入我们的花园，这有助于为花园增添惊心动魄的氛围。德国植物猎人菲利普·赛博尔德曾将日本重瓣樱花引入西方花园，却在日本被捕，并被指控犯有叛国罪。苏格兰人戴维·道格拉斯因将道格拉斯冷杉（即花旗松）从北美引入欧洲而闻名，却于1834 年在夏威夷不幸跌入一个捕牛坑而身亡。他的同胞乔治·福里斯特从中国采集了数千种植物，其中包括花期较早的怒江红山茶。1905 年，福里斯特的同伴在云南全部遇害，而他仅帽子让两支箭射穿，侥幸逃离。

2受各位植物采集者的探险启发，我参加了英国皇家园艺协会的植物探索者之旅，前往云南山谷探索植物群。那里是西方所见1 万种左右中国园林植物和花卉的原产地。

3It was October, a hopeless month for flower blooms, but even if we’d been there in late spring—when beauties like the scented, deep crimson tree peony Paeonia delavayi bloom—little is guaranteed in the plant world.

4The bus came to a halt alongside a deserted road in the middle of nowhere and, our group of amateur botanists and horticulturalists walked a mile or so up into the reserve.

5This is part of the range known as Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and the view of it from Black Dragon Pool in Lijiang appears on calendars and postcards up and down China.

6The snaking track into the reserve plunged into thick fog.On either side,oak and rhododendrons sheltered familiar and less familiar plants: delphiniums, small pom-poms of Pterocephalus hookeri and a clumpy Stellera chamaejasme with its pale yellow flowers over Euphorbia-like leaves.

7Our route continued across a lake bed of the whitest clay2高岭土，一种以高岭石族黏土矿物为主的黏土和黏土岩。高岭土多无光泽，质纯时颜白细腻，含杂质时可带有灰、黄、褐等色。外观依成因不同可呈松散的土块状及致密的岩块状。.The fog had closed in, so dense that all sound was deadened.It felt as if we were walking through cotton wool.At 3,200 metres above sea level some of the party were struggling and had to be given oxygen.Others tramped on as the fog lifted to reveal a wide plain between soaring mountains and a glacier in the distance.

3那是十月，鲜有花开。然而，就算我们在各种美丽花朵（比如花香四溢的深红色滇牡丹）理应盛放的晚春时节来到此地，植物世界也不能保证花朵如期开放。

4大巴行驶到偏远地带，停在一条荒芜的道路旁。我们这群业余植物学家和园艺家步行了一英里左右进入保护区。

5这是著名的玉龙雪山的一部分，从丽江黑龙潭望向这里的景色，经常出现在中国各地的日历和明信片上。

6进入保护区的蜿蜒小径没入浓雾之中。小径两侧的橡树和杜鹃花掩蔽着人们熟悉和不太熟悉的植物：翠雀花、小绒球似的匙叶翼首花和一丛狼毒，后者淡黄色的花朵覆盖在大戟似的叶子上。

7我们继续前行，穿过一片高白度高岭土质地的湖床。浓雾四合，万籁俱寂。我们就像穿行于棉絮之中。在海拔3200 米的地方，有些队员支撑不住，必须靠吸氧才能维持。随着雾气消散，广阔的平原显现在高耸的山脉和远处的冰川之间，其他人继续跋涉。

8There was nothing and no one else in this desolate valley.

9The first gentians appeared on the scrubby grassland beyond the lake, their flower heads furled tightly against the cold.Dr Zhikun Wu, from Kunming Institute of Botany, identified the true gentians from the Gentiana szechenyii.He was one of the three expert guides on the tour that also included Chris Bailes,the former head of both RHS Rosemoor and the Chelsea Physic Garden, and Jim Gardiner, RHS executive vice-president.George Pu, the indefatigable Chinese guide and his team helped make the long, fascinating but exhausting days comfortable.

8在这个荒凉的山谷里，空无一物、别无他人。

9第一簇龙胆出现在湖边灌木丛生的草地上，它们收紧花头以抵御严寒。昆明植物研究所的吴之坤博士分辨出这是纯种的大花龙胆。吴博士是此次探险之旅的3 位指导专家之一，另外两位分别是英国皇家园艺协会旗下罗斯穆尔花园和切尔西药用植物园的前任负责人克里斯·拜莱斯，以及英国皇家园艺协会执行副总裁吉姆·加德纳。中国向导乔治·蒲（音译）似乎永远不知疲倦。在他及其团队的帮助下，这段有趣却又令人筋疲力尽的漫长日子变得舒适。

10在山谷中树木繁茂的陡峭地带，牡丹、翠雀花、成片的唐松草叶、龙胆、委陵菜、马郁兰、火棘、小檗，和我不太熟悉的几个科属的植物挤在一起生长，如叶子覆有灰蓝蜡膜的灌木窄叶鲜卑花，以及我一直误以为是兰花的吉祥草叶子，后来拜莱斯纠正了我的错误。由于前方几百米就是冰川，我们不得不往回走，此时体能急剧下降，心情也愈加烦躁。太阳出来时，我们离开了这个地区。一株龙胆依偎在草丛旁，开始以大约每30 秒一片花瓣的速度展开。我们一行16 人聚在一起观看。不久，乌云遮蔽了太阳，花儿停止绽放。

10On the steep wooded sides of the valley, tree peonies, delphiniums, bursts of thalictrum foliage, gentians, potentillas, marjoram, Pyracantha and Berberis jostled with less familiar genera and families such as Sibiraea angustata, a glaucous-leaved shrub, and the leaves of Reineckea carnea, which I kept mistaking for an orchid until Bailes corrected me.With the glacier a few hundred metres ahead, we had to turn back with energy levels plummeting and tempers fraying.We left the area as the sun came out.A gentian, snuggled beside a tussock of grass, began unfurling at a rate of about one petal every 30 seconds.The party of 16 gathered to watch.Then clouds muffled the sun and the flower stopped in its tracks3stop in one’s tracks (to)（使由于恐惧或吃惊）突然止步；（使）怔住。.

11As the chill factor began to bite,I thought of Forrest, Wilson, the USAustrian Joseph Rock and the English plant hunter Reginald Farrer who all camped in these areas.Here is one of Farrer’s notes from 1918: “It was very pleasant, after days of exploration in the wintry coombes4coombe（尤指英国南部的）峡谷，山谷。and glens5glen（尤指苏格兰或爱尔兰的）峡谷，幽谷。, to sit in the evening over the stove in our snug little cabin, relaxed in the comfort of a Chinese quilted gown… I… was standing with my back to the stove… I felt the heat glowing up my legs.And there seemed a specially pleasant glow of light, too… I basked in beatitude, till a sudden movement showed me the facts of the case… my padded petticoat was in a vivid blaze.”

11随着刺骨的寒意袭来，我想起了福里斯特、威尔荪、美籍奥地利人约瑟夫·罗克和英国植物猎人雷金纳德·法勒，他们都曾在这些地区扎营。以下文字摘自法勒1918 年的笔记：“在寒冷的峡谷里探索了几天之后，晚上围坐在我们温暖小木屋里的火炉旁，身穿舒适的中式棉袍，浑身放松，十分惬意……我……背对炉子站着……感觉阵阵热气温暖我的双腿。似乎还有一束特别令人愉快的光芒…… 我如沐圣恩，直到突然一个动静将我拉回了现实……我那有衬垫的衬裙正在熊熊燃烧。”

12Rock had things slightly easier.While plant hunting in Yunnan in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, he lived in a remote village about 20 miles from Lijiang.Today, the route to Rock’s simple,stone-built house is unmarked.Inside,curling copies of the National Geographic and fading photos record some of his adventures.

12罗克的情况稍好。20 世纪20 年代、30 年代和40 年代，他来云南采集植物时，住在距离丽江大约20 英里的一个偏远村庄。如今，通往罗克那间简易石砌房屋的路线未作标记。屋里卷页的《国家地理》杂志和褪色的照片记录了他的部分探险经历。

13One of Forrest’s favoured areas, a mossy, yak-grazed forest high above Lijiang, is now reached by ski lift.We did find Pinus yunnanensis with its elegant groups of five long needles, purpleflowered Dracocephalum forrestii and yellow Primula forrestii.

14Our plant seeking in the Kunming area was warmer and more plant filled.The stone forest, a sort of landlocked version of Ha Long Bay6下龙湾，典型的石灰岩喀斯特地貌海湾，分布着近2000 座石灰岩岛屿，每座岛屿都覆有丛林植被，矗立在海中，星罗棋布，颇为壮观。因景色酷似中国的桂林山水，下龙湾有“海上桂林”之称。1994年，联合国教科文组织将下龙湾作为自然遗产列入《世界遗产名录》。, provided the backdrop for old favourites such as Magnolia delavayi and Pyracantha angustifolia, while Clematis armandii and Trachelospermum jasminoides scrambled over the rocks.Just outside the city of Kunming—at Western Hills where Nie Er, composer of the Chinese national anthem, is buried—a ski lift wafted us over the ubiquitous magnolia, Begonia crispa and plenty of small tibouchinas, the glorious deep purpleflowered plant with red early foliage that I first came across in the 1990s when the late English gardener Christopher Lloyd gave me a specimen.

15Walking past Buddhist and Daoist temples carved into the cliff face,excitement rippled through the group.A few delicate pink flowers above a whorl of mid-green leaves were just visible in a crevice about three metres above ground level — ground level being 2,000 metres.Bailes and Gardiner conferred: Primula duclouxii they concluded.

13福里斯特最喜欢的地区之一，是一片俯瞰丽江、遍生苔藓、可放牧牦牛的森林，如今可以通过滑雪缆车抵达。我们确实在那里发现了云南松，每束精美的针叶都有五根长针。我们还发现了开紫花的松叶青兰和黄色的灰岩皱叶报春。

14我们在昆明地区探索植物，这里气候更温暖，收获也更丰富。昆明的石林如同内陆版的越南下龙湾，陪衬出以往深受大家喜爱的山木兰和窄叶火棘，而小木通和络石则在岩石上攀爬。就在昆明城外，在中国国歌曲作者聂耳埋葬的西山上，我们乘坐滑雪缆车，看到漫山遍野的木兰花、皱叶秋海棠，还有大量的小蒂牡花（一种花朵呈深紫色、早期叶子为红色的美丽植物）。我在20 世纪90 年代第一次见到蒂牡花，如今已故的英国园艺家克里斯托弗·劳埃德当时送了我一个标本。

15途中经过几座在崖壁上开凿出来的佛教寺庙和道观，全体队员兴奋不已。在距离地面约3 米的岩隙中，有一圈轮生的中绿色叶子，上方开出几朵娇嫩的粉红色花朵，而那里的海拔高度为2000 米。拜莱斯和加德纳商量后认定那是曲柄报春。

16Even in well-tended parks there were delights and lessons: Chinese privet or Ligustrum lucidum, which makes a tidy, well-behaved small tree;the shrubby, blue-flowered pea relation Sophora davidii, which “should be grown more in our gardens”, according to Bailes.

17So should tree peonies whose buds are fattening as nicely in Yunnan as at home in Oxford where they form part of a kind of outdoor chintz made up of plants, many from China.It is a very English style and, like most English styles it is gathered from around the world in circumstances that might now be considered to be a bit cheeky—piratical even.But that is another story.

18These green ambassadors were sending down roots and curling tendrils in the world’s most fashionable beds and borders long before Chinese slipped into western school curricula and China’s economic growth became a matter of envy.■

16即使在精心照料的公园里，我们也有乐趣和收获：中国女贞木是一种枝叶齐整、树形优美的小树。拜莱斯认为，开蓝花的豆科植物灌木白刺花“应该在我们的花园里多加种植”。

17同样应该种植的还有牡丹，它们的花蕾在英国牛津能像在中国云南那样开得饱满。在牛津有一种专门用于户外的印花棉布，上面印的很多花朵就原产自中国，牡丹便是其中一种。这种印花棉布颇具英式风格，就像大多数英式风格的物件一样，吸取世界各地的元素。如今，这种做法可能略有厚颜无耻之嫌，甚至会被视作剽窃。但那是另外一回事。

18早在汉语进入西方学校的课堂、中国的经济增长变得令人羡慕之前，这些绿色使者就已经在世界最时尚的苗圃和花坛里深深扎根、延展枝丫了。 □