A thousand mu of marshes and thousands of households

Not long ago, I bought fresh-cut gardenia online, picked it in the morning, delivered it from Chongqing in the morning, and received it after work. The courier probably knew it was fresh flowers, so he didn't dare to delay and called me hurriedly to pick them up. Get the express delivery, can't help but close to the carton gap edge, how familiar fragrance!

1 Gardenia, Summer and Morning Flower Evening Collection

Last year at this time, I also asked my father to send me some gardenias planted on my doorstep. How much I miss this smell. Since going north to study, it is the end of June when I return home every summer vacation. Gardenia flowers have withered and missed the flowering period perfectly.

When I was young, there was a tree in front of my house. In the early summer morning, gardenia was in full bloom. I could smell the fragrance from afar. The most expected thing after getting up every day was to pick flowers and soak them in a bowl in the room. The fragrance filled the whole house. At night, I could sleep with the fragrance. Female students like to tie gardenia in braids, so the classroom is also full of gardenia fragrance. At that time, I saw people selling gardenia at the school gate. Grandma hand holding a bamboo basket, the basket filled with white gardenia, should be planted in their own yard, picked in the early morning, petals still have wet dew. The old man's hair and shirt are the same color as gardenias. I guess the old man didn't sell much in the end, and I only saw that one time.

Gardenia petals as white as snow, fragrance overflowing, I like to fold together with branches and leaves inserted in the bottle. I remember staying at home that summer after the college entrance examination. It rained heavily in Jiangcheng for several days. The weather was cloudy. Before the exam results came out, I was uneasy, as if waiting for the judgment of the end. Fortunately, there was one thing to do: insert the gardenia with branches and leaves into the transparent goldfish bowl and put it on the desk made of sewing machine in front of the window. Green leaves and yellow stamens match up, elegant and unique, smelling fragrant, looking at flowers, nothing dry, but also can kill a morning time. That summer's fragrance of flowers had given the boy a moment of peace.

In May 1927, when Lu Xun was editing the old articles in "Morning Flowers and Evening Collection" in hot Guangzhou, a pot of gardenia on his desk probably also dispelled the "strange and miscellaneous" in some writers 'hearts. He wrote in "Morning Flowers and Evening Collection·Small Introduction":

The weather in Guangzhou was so hot that the setting sun shone in from the west window, forcing people to wear only a single dress. On the table was a basin of "cross-branches of water", something I had never seen before: just a section of tree. As long as it was immersed in water, its branches and leaves would be green and lovely. Looking at the green leaves, compiling old manuscripts, it was finally doing something. To do such things is really to live in the day, but also to die in the year, very can drive away the heat.

According to the "Chinese Flora," Gardenia species for bonsai plants, said "water cross-branch." Ma Junjiang said in his article "Water Cross Branch in the Li":"Lu Xun's water cross branch should be a potted plant planted in a transparent glass pot: a bowl of clear water, roots in the water or static or moving." Gardenia can also be hydroponic! I have never seen gardenia potted plants raised in water. It is said that hydroponics can also bloom.

2 Gardenia as dye

"Gardenia" in ancient books have many names, such as Zhizi, Xianzhi, Xianzhi, Mudan, Yue Tao, etc.,"Gardenia" a name from "Shuowen Jiezi":"wood can be dyed. From the sound of wood." [1]It can be seen that in Xu Shen's view, the coloring function of fruits is an important feature of Gardenia. Gardenia, a dye, is a plant of the Rubiaceae family. Rubia is also a red dye, used as a dye is its root; Gardenia is a yellow dye, used for dyeing is its fruit. But my impression of gardenia never fruit, but childhood in the mountains had seen "wild" gardenia bear orange fruit.

Winter, wild gardenia fruit, each one has been nibbled by a bird

Gardenia jasminoides Ellis and Gardenia lla Merr., There is little difference between the two except leaf width. The fruit can be dyed, and the flowers are single.

It turned out that the double-petal gardenia now used for viewing was a variant. Ask the relevant professional students to know, single-petal can bear fruit, and double-petal varieties more petals are from stamen petals, so the production of pollen reduced, resulting in a lower probability of results.

The double-petal gardenia is also known as "white toad". Several other double-petal gardenia leaves that will be used in gardens are very narrow, more like double-petal narrow-leaf gardenia. Gardenia, which bear fruit for dyeing, are their monopetalous species. Chen Haizi's horticulture monograph "Flower Mirror" in the early Qing Dynasty contains: "Single leaves and small flowers bear more seeds, while those with large flowers do not bear seeds." [2]The so-called "single-leaf floret" that is, single-petal gardenia.

A kind of double-petal gardenia, garden called "small leaf gardenia" or "sparrow tongue gardenia"

Gardenia angustifolia

Gardenia. Actually, there's cream yellow.

Gardenia has been used as a yellow dye since Qin and Han Dynasties. Sima Qian's "Historical Records·Biography of Goods" contains: "If thousands of acres of Qian, thousands of ginger leek: This person is with thousands of households Hou and so on." Here,"Zhi" and "Qian" refer to dyes. In Sima Qian's time, if there were thousands of acres of gardenia and madder in the family, their abundance could rival that of Qianhu Marquis. It can be seen that gardenia and madder were dye crops of considerable economic value at that time.

So many plant dyes, why can make a fortune is gardenia and madder? The author believes that this is closely related to the color respected in Han Dynasty. After Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty, in order to strengthen his image of "son of the Red Emperor", he respected red, and his dragon robe was also made red (Qin Dynasty was black); Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty believed in yin and yang five elements after he ascended the throne. Qin Dynasty was water virtue, and earth could overcome water, so Han Dynasty was earth virtue, and "gold, wood, water, fire and earth", the corresponding color was "white, green, black and red yellow", so Emperor Wu changed his dragon robe to yellow, but also retained red dragon robe. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu changed the Han Dynasty's "earth virtue" to "fire virtue" and continued to advocate red. [3]Therefore, throughout the Han Dynasty, both red and yellow colors were favored by the rulers. Ying Shao, a scholar of the Eastern Han Dynasty, wrote Han Guan Yi, which specially introduced the laws and regulations of the Han Dynasty. His book said: "Dye the garden and produce Zhiqian for dyeing royal clothes." The word "zh" here should also be "gardenia." Ming Dynasty poet Chen Changming "Welcome Xianke" Yong Gardenia: "Gardenia room, old frost, once dyed palace clothes yellow." It can be proved.

plump gardenia fruit

In addition, in the Qin and Han Dynasties, gardenia was the main raw material for dyeing yellow, other yellow-dyed crops such as rehmannia, sophora flower, phellodendron amurense, turmeric and yellow had not been popularized, and stone yellow and realgar, which were used for dyeing yellow, were used later. [4]Therefore, in Qin and Han Dynasties, gardenia was in a monopoly position in yellow dye. In addition, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty respected yellow, and yellow had not yet become the special color of the emperor at that time, so the demand for gardenia dye must be quite large. It is no wonder that large-scale planting of gardenia can rival Qianhu Marquis.

3 Dragon Boat Festival flower arrangement and craft decoration

Gardenia was used for flower arrangement in the Southern Song Dynasty. When referring to the custom of Jiangnan Dragon Boat Festival,"West Lake Old Man's Success Record" contains:

Every family inside and outside the city provides, all insert calamus, pomegranate, hollyhock flower, gardenia flower and the like, sell ten thousand strings in the morning, spend money not less than. How do you know? Qiantang has a million families, a family to buy a hundred dollars to spend, you can see also.

Gardenia flowers are blooming around Dragon Boat Festival, and calamus, pomegranate, hollyhock flowers appear in the market together, ordinary people also buy these flowers inserted in bottles. Think about this flower arrangement combination, because of gardenia, add a bit chic and elegant. I wonder if this custom still exists in Hangzhou.

"Zhang Chengzao" red gardenia flower pattern disk, yuan, height 2.8cm, diameter 16.5cm. Old collection of Qing Palace.

Picture from official website of Forbidden City

Gardenia must have always been loved, and its patterns have gradually been used as decorations on handicrafts. A "red gardenia flower pattern disk" now stored in the Palace Museum has to be mentioned. This exquisite lacquer ware is from Zhang Cheng, one of the most accomplished lacquer carvers of the Yuan Dynasty. It is not difficult to see that the center of the disc is a blooming double-petal gardenia, indicating that there is a double-petal gardenia in Yuan Dynasty.

Carving lacquer is a kind of lacquer craft, according to different colors can be divided into red, black, color, rhinoceros, etc., and "red" is to coat thick vermilion lacquer on the fetal bone, draw the drawing when it is half dry, and then carve the pattern. Due to the thick lacquer, it can finally achieve the effect of embossed. This lacquer ware with gardenia pattern as the main pattern is made in this way. According to Mr. Sun Ji's "Ancient Chinese Material Culture", eighty to one hundred paints can be observed in the disk [5], which is admirable just to think that the craftsman has painted it over and over again. And Mr. Sun Ji's praise of his craft can make us better appreciate the artistic beauty of this Yuan Dynasty masterpiece:

A large gardenia carved out of the plate, smiling to welcome people, the leaves around are very dense, but free to roll, showing the interest of sketching. Correspondingly, carving and grinding are extremely delicate, which is completely in line with the description of "Tibetan front clear, hidden smooth" in "Xiushi Lu". [6]

Zhang Cheng was born in Yanghui, Xitang Town (near Yanghui Pond in the north of Xitang Town, Jiashan). His birth and death years are unknown, and his life is unknown. I don't know for whom this exquisite lacquer ware was made, nor why its owner took gardenia flowers as the main body of the picture, instead of the four gentlemen in flowers or the elegant peony. Perhaps there is an interesting story behind it waiting to be discovered.

Enamel gardenia-flower pattern wax platform, Ming Wanli, imperial supervisor made, through height 9.6cm, disk diameter 18cm, disk bottom diameter 13.3cm. Old collection of Qing Palace.

Picture from official website of Forbidden City

In addition to lacquerware, gardenia also appears in cloisonne, such as the Ming Wanli years of "silk enamel gardenia pattern wax platform", wax platform disc-like folding edge has a circle of gardenia pattern, looks like a single petal gardenia. In addition to objects, clothing is also indispensable. In this "blue satin beaded embroidered gardenia Tianzhu jacket" hidden in the Qing Palace, the image of gardenia flower is not particularly realistic, it is impossible to see whether it is single or double, but the branches and leaves are relatively realistic, the veins embroidered by gold thread correspond to the stamens, which can highlight the light sense. According to the official website of the Forbidden City, this is the civilian clothes of the Qing Dynasty imperial concubine. [7]

I guess this casual dress should be worn when gardenia blooms in May of the lunar calendar. Could it be that gardenia was planted in Qing Palace? Gardenias appear in casual clothes, but also can be seen that this flower and peony and other different temperament.

Before Dragon Boat Festival 2018

Image from Plantes de la Chine

[1]Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica said: "Wine and wine." Gardenia is like this, hence its name."

[2](Qing) Chen Haozi: Flower Mirror, Agricultural Publishing House, December 1962, 1st edition, page 131.

[3]The New York Times: The New York Times, August 2014, pp. 154.

[4]The New York Times: The New York Times, August 2014, pp. 147.

[5]Sun Ji: Ancient Chinese Material Culture, Zhonghua Publishing House, July 1st edition, 2014, page 278.

[6]Sun Ji: Ancient Chinese Material Culture, Zhonghua Publishing House, July 1st edition, 2014, page 279.

[7]See: www.dpm.org.cn/collection/embroider/231370.html? hl=%E6%A0%80%E5%AD%90

About the author: Jianghan Tang Tang, enterprise employee/art museum public education volunteer/freelance writer, now living in Beijing.

Graphic Editor: Jiang

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