Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/312

 

HINA possesses what is probably one of the largest flora in the world. "The most moderate estimate cannot put the whole flora as containing less than twelve thousand species," says Sir W. T. Thiselton Dyer in the "Index Floræ Sinensis," which enumerates 8,271 species, 4,230 of which are endemic, or not known to occur outside the Chinese Empire.

The popular cry that China requires nothing from abroad, having all that she needs within her own boundaries, is no empty boast so far as her vegetation is concerned. Lying between about 45° N. latitude, where the winters are Arctic, and about 15° N. latitude, where the climate is equatorial, she has an extensive range of climate. From the high line of mountains in Szechwan, whose peaks are covered with perpetual snow, to the flat alluvial plains on the Pacific coast, it is possible for her to cultivate practically all known plants. Not only is her flora one of the richest in a general sense, but it is also one of the most extensive, in so far as decorative plants, suited to the gardens of Great Britain, are concerned, and this survey will be chiefly confined to remarks on some of the most popular of the hundreds of garden plants that have been introduced from China to Britain.

Our knowledge of Chinese flora from a decorative point of view only dates back to 1843, when Robert Fortune, a botanical collector sent out by the Royal Horticultural Society, arrived in Shanghai. He was an intrepid collector and overcame considerable difficulties in his attempts to enrich the gardens of the old country. He had, of course, a new field to explore, and though certain facilities for obtaining plants were afforded him by the nurseries in Shanghai, it is to his own personal efforts that thanks are due for a great number of our most popular flowers. It was he who brought home the chrysanthemum, which, though divided into Chinese and Japanese varieties, certainly originated in China. A peculiarity which is generally overlooked in discussions on the question of Japanese and Chinese forms of this plant is very obvious to those who know the difference between the two peoples. The Japanese plant is light and fantastic, with curved twists of petals; in other words, it is artistic, and typical of what the Japanese admire in art. The Chinese variety, on the other hand, is stiff, globular, formal—like the Chinese character, conservative and solid. There is little doubt that each race, finding the flower adaptable, developed in it peculiarities to suit their tastes.

Amongst the most popular garden plants introduced by Fortune are the following:—Pæonies, azaleas, camellias, Gardenia fortunii and G. radicans, and roses in many varieties. The Tea rose, and its consequent hybrids, were all derived from Rosa Indica, a Chinese species.

Fortune's greatest work, however, was the introduction of the tea plant (Camellia thea), from the vicinity of Chekiang to India. After completing his investigations for the Royal Horticultural Society, he accepted a commission from the East India Company in 1848 lo obtain seeds, plants, and full information relative to the cultivation of tea in China, with a view to starting the cultivation of tea on the Himalayas. Up to that time the Chinese had guarded the secret of tea production very carefully, and it was commonly supposed that black tea was made from the leaves of Thea bohea, grown on the Foochow and Canton Hills, and that green tea was the product of Thea viridis cultivated in Chekiang. Fortune's investigations revealed the fact that black and green tea were both the product of the same plant, Camellia thea, and that the difference in colour was due simply to difference in the methods of manufacturing, i.e., drying, &amp;c. On August 10, 1885, Fortune, who had previously shipped considerable quantities of plants and seeds to India, left Shanghai with eight expert tea cultivators and manufacturers from Fokien. From their arrival dates the great tea industry in India and Ceylon, which now so seriously threatens the China tea trade with extinction that two years ago Chinese commissioners were deputed to visit Ceylon in order to investigate the methods in vogue there. From the fact that the tea plant is not infrequently found growing wild in Assam but never in China, it may be inferred that India was its original home. The probabilities are that the Chinese imported the plant from Assam centuries ago, and that through Fortune they merely repaid a loan.

NORTH CHINA.

The vegetation of China is divisible into three well-defined regions. The Northern, or Temperate, region, extends from Shantung northwards. This is the home of numerous pines, the most famous of which is the White Barked pine (Pinus bungeana), so abundant near the Ming tombs in the vicinity of Peking. This tree is greatly venerated, and attains a great age and size. Its stem, when matured, appears as though it were whitewashed, and forms a striking object in the landscape. The Shantung Province and North Honan are the chief fruit-growing areas. Apples, pears, plums, grapes, persimmons {Diospyros kaki), thorn apples (Crateageus pinnatifida), cherries, apricots, and all other temperate fruits are grown in great variety. A plum-cot, similar to the famed Burbank hybrid, is said to have existed for centuries in the vicinity of Weihaiwei, while other peculiar fruits found in this locality are the seedless jujube and flat jujube, the apple-shaped pear, and a large peculiar shaped persimmon.

Amongst flowering plants the more familiar varieties are Anemone Chinensis, Lilium concolor, daphnes, hawthorns, Jasminum nudiflorum, Foroythia suspensa, the China aster (Callistephus hortensios), Clematis orientalis, Thalictrum minus, Anemone hepatica, Adonis vernalis, Pæonia albiflora, Chimonanthus fragrans, Delphinium grandiflora, Aconitum, and Aquilegera.

CENTRAL CHINA.

The central region, i.e., that adjoining the Yangtsze Valley, is agriculturally, and also in the extreme richness of its flora, unique. In the vicinity of Shanghai the flat alluvial plains are devoted to agriculture, the rich soil producing excellent crops of cotton, rice, barley, beans, Sesamum Indica and large supplies of vegetables. At Siccawei, which is the chief peach-growing region, good peaches in considerable variety are produced, the favourite being a flat-fruited variety. Unfortunately, the Chinese do not give careful attention to their cultivation, with the result that almost every other fruit has a maggot in it. The peaches are plucked before they are ripe to prevent the maggot from developing and to avoid the risk of theft; consequently, a really ripe, luscious