在中國狩獵植物

文/簡·歐文 譯/修文喬

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戴維·道格拉斯（1799—1834），英國著名植物獵人。他生前一共為英國引入大約240 種植物。為了紀念他，80 多種動植物的科學名稱被命名為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.

說起熟悉的植物何以進入我們的花園，這有助于為花園增添驚心動魄的氛圍。德國植物獵人菲利普·賽博爾德曾將日本重瓣櫻花引入西方花園，卻在日本被捕，并被指控犯有叛國罪。蘇格蘭人戴維·道格拉斯因將道格拉斯冷杉（即花旗松）從北美引入歐洲而聞名，卻于1834 年在夏威夷不幸跌入一個捕牛坑而身亡。他的同胞喬治·福里斯特從中國采集了數千種植物，其中包括花期較早的怒江紅山茶。1905 年，福里斯特的同伴在云南全部遇害，而他僅帽子讓兩支箭射穿，僥幸逃離。

2受各位植物采集者的探險啟發，我參加了英國皇家園藝協會的植物探索者之旅，前往云南山谷探索植物群。那里是西方所見1 萬種左右中國園林植物和花卉的原產地。

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高嶺土，一種以高嶺石族黏土礦物為主的黏土和黏土巖。高嶺土多無光澤，質純時顏白細膩，含雜質時可帶有灰、黃、褐等色。外觀依成因不同可呈松散的土塊狀及致密的巖塊狀。.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，鮮有花開。然而，就算我們在各種美麗花朵（比如花香四溢的深紅色滇牡丹）理應盛放的晚春時節來到此地，植物世界也不能保證花朵如期開放。

4大巴行駛到偏遠地帶，停在一條荒蕪的道路旁。我們這群業余植物學家和園藝家步行了一英里左右進入保護區。

5這是著名的玉龍雪山的一部分，從麗江黑龍潭望向這里的景色，經常出現在中國各地的日歷和明信片上。

6進入保護區的蜿蜒小徑沒入濃霧之中。小徑兩側的橡樹和杜鵑花掩蔽著人們熟悉和不太熟悉的植物：翠雀花、小絨球似的匙葉翼首花和一叢狼毒，后者淡黃色的花朵覆蓋在大戟似的葉子上。

7我們繼續前行，穿過一片高白度高嶺土質地的湖床。濃霧四合，萬籟俱寂。我們就像穿行于棉絮之中。在海拔3200 米的地方，有些隊員支撐不住，必須靠吸氧才能維持。隨著霧氣消散，廣闊的平原顯現在高聳的山脈和遠處的冰川之間，其他人繼續跋涉。

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在這個荒涼的山谷里，空無一物、別無他人。

9第一簇龍膽出現在湖邊灌木叢生的草地上，它們收緊花頭以抵御嚴寒。昆明植物研究所的吳之坤博士分辨出這是純種的大花龍膽。吳博士是此次探險之旅的3 位指導專家之一，另外兩位分別是英國皇家園藝協會旗下羅斯穆爾花園和切爾西藥用植物園的前任負責人克里斯·拜萊斯，以及英國皇家園藝協會執行副總裁吉姆·加德納。中國向導喬治·蒲（音譯）似乎永遠不知疲倦。在他及其團隊的幫助下，這段有趣卻又令人筋疲力盡的漫長日子變得舒適。

10在山谷中樹木繁茂的陡峭地帶，牡丹、翠雀花、成片的唐松草葉、龍膽、委陵菜、馬郁蘭、火棘、小檗，和我不太熟悉的幾個科屬的植物擠在一起生長，如葉子覆有灰藍蠟膜的灌木窄葉鮮卑花，以及我一直誤以為是蘭花的吉祥草葉子，后來拜萊斯糾正了我的錯誤。由于前方幾百米就是冰川，我們不得不往回走，此時體能急劇下降，心情也愈加煩躁。太陽出來時，我們離開了這個地區。一株龍膽依偎在草叢旁，開始以大約每30 秒一片花瓣的速度展開。我們一行16 人聚在一起觀看。不久，烏云遮蔽了太陽，花兒停止綻放。

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)（使由于恐懼或吃驚）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（尤指英國南部的）峽谷，山谷。and glens5glen（尤指蘇格蘭或愛爾蘭的）峽谷，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隨著刺骨的寒意襲來，我想起了福里斯特、威爾蓀、美籍奧地利人約瑟夫·羅克和英國植物獵人雷金納德·法勒，他們都曾在這些地區扎營。以下文字摘自法勒1918 年的筆記：“在寒冷的峽谷里探索了幾天之后，晚上圍坐在我們溫暖小木屋里的火爐旁，身穿舒適的中式棉袍，渾身放松，十分愜意……我……背對爐子站著……感覺陣陣熱氣溫暖我的雙腿。似乎還有一束特別令人愉快的光芒…… 我如沐圣恩，直到突然一個動靜將我拉回了現實……我那有襯墊的襯裙正在熊熊燃燒。”

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羅克的情況稍好。20 世紀20 年代、30 年代和40 年代，他來云南采集植物時，住在距離麗江大約20 英里的一個偏遠村莊。如今，通往羅克那間簡易石砌房屋的路線未作標記。屋里卷頁的《國家地理》雜志和褪色的照片記錄了他的部分探險經歷。

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下龍灣，典型的石灰巖喀斯特地貌海灣，分布著近2000 座石灰巖島嶼，每座島嶼都覆有叢林植被，矗立在海中，星羅棋布，頗為壯觀。因景色酷似中國的桂林山水，下龍灣有“海上桂林”之稱。1994年，聯合國教科文組織將下龍灣作為自然遺產列入《世界遺產名錄》。, 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福里斯特最喜歡的地區之一，是一片俯瞰麗江、遍生苔蘚、可放牧牦牛的森林，如今可以通過滑雪纜車抵達。我們確實在那里發現了云南松，每束精美的針葉都有五根長針。我們還發現了開紫花的松葉青蘭和黃色的灰巖皺葉報春。

14我們在昆明地區探索植物，這里氣候更溫暖，收獲也更豐富。昆明的石林如同內陸版的越南下龍灣，陪襯出以往深受大家喜愛的山木蘭和窄葉火棘，而小木通和絡石則在巖石上攀爬。就在昆明城外，在中國國歌曲作者聶耳埋葬的西山上，我們乘坐滑雪纜車，看到漫山遍野的木蘭花、皺葉秋海棠，還有大量的小蒂牡花（一種花朵呈深紫色、早期葉子為紅色的美麗植物）。我在20 世紀90 年代第一次見到蒂牡花，如今已故的英國園藝家克里斯托弗·勞埃德當時送了我一個標本。

15途中經過幾座在崖壁上開鑿出來的佛教寺廟和道觀，全體隊員興奮不已。在距離地面約3 米的巖隙中，有一圈輪生的中綠色葉子，上方開出幾朵嬌嫩的粉紅色花朵，而那里的海拔高度為2000 米。拜萊斯和加德納商量后認定那是曲柄報春。

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園里，我們也有樂趣和收獲：中國女貞木是一種枝葉齊整、樹形優美的小樹。拜萊斯認為，開藍花的豆科植物灌木白刺花“應該在我們的花園里多加種植”。

17同樣應該種植的還有牡丹，它們的花蕾在英國牛津能像在中國云南那樣開得飽滿。在牛津有一種專門用于戶外的印花棉布，上面印的很多花朵就原產自中國，牡丹便是其中一種。這種印花棉布頗具英式風格，就像大多數英式風格的物件一樣，吸取世界各地的元素。如今，這種做法可能略有厚顏無恥之嫌，甚至會被視作剽竊。但那是另外一回事。

18早在漢語進入西方學校的課堂、中國的經濟增長變得令人羨慕之前，這些綠色使者就已經在世界最時尚的苗圃和花壇里深深扎根、延展枝丫了。 □