Plant Hunting in China在中国狩猎植物

Jane Owen retraces the footsteps of intrepid botanists whohelped introduce the  wild flora of Yunnan into our gardens. 一群勇敢的植物学家将云南的野生植物引入了我们的花园。如今，简·欧文重走他们的道路。

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， 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.

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。

Inspired 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.

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。

It 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.

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。

The 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.

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。

This 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.

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。

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

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。

Our route continued across a lake bed of the whitest clay2. 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.

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。

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

在这个荒凉的山谷里，空无一物、别无他人。

The 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.

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。

On 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 tracks3.

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。

As the chill factor began to bite， I thought of Forrest， Wilson， the US-Austrian 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 coombes4 and glens5， 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.”