时间：2022-04-22 04:44:18
The Origin of Garden Chrysanthemum is the last masterpiece left by Mr. Chen Junyu. Mr. Chen， a senior academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering， is well-known as Academician of Plum Blossom， but seldom known by the public for his distinguished achievements in the research of chrysanthemum. Both plum blossom and chrysanthemum are the most important flowers in China. "Several branches of plum blossom bloom alone in the cold winter against the top of wall" reveals the foundation of Chinese mentality： strong will； while "Picking chrysanthemums neath the Eastern fence" shows the essence of Chinese culture of Confucianism and Taoism： elegance and self-discipline. Regarding the Plum blossom， Mr. Chen established the classification system， and discovered and denominated many new species； while in the field of chrysanthemum research， he not only cultivated the new chrysanthemum （Ground Cover）， which is planted widely in the Northern China， but also inaugurated a new era in terms of the research on the origin and cultivation history of chrysanthemum.
The cultivating history for chrysanthemum in China has nearly two thousand years； however， it is not completely identified by the world； a saying even said that chrysanthemum is originated from Japan， which is absolutely unacceptable but needs to verify. Accordingly， Mr. Chen gave a speech entitled Chinese Cultivation and Culture of Garden Chrysanthemum， which may be the first essay discussing the history of chrysanthemum cultivation at abroad by Modern Chinese Scholars， at an international Symposium when he studied for his degree in Denmark in 1948（7）. His interests in seeking for the origin of chrysanthemum is greatly stimulated by the saying that garden chrysanthemum could be the hybrids of Chrysanthemum Vestitum from Mr. Chen Fenghuai， a famous botanist in the 1950s. However， it didn’t completely proceed to system research until 1970s.
Today， the Origin of Garden Chrysanthemum，the research achievements taking half of Mr. Chen's life time and many years' cooperation with his pupils， is published both in English and Chinese edition by Anhui Science & Technology Publishing House， which is 50 years later. The book is written in English to facilitate foreign readers realizing the fact that the origin of chrysanthemum is from China， and the long-standing and rich elegance of Chinese chrysanthemum culture in appreciating， cultivating， enjoying and painting chrysanthemum.
The book consists of 12 chapters and more than 400，000 words， making a comprehensive analysis， argumentation， and narration on the chrysanthemum concerning its scientific name， varieties and classifications， its origin and the evolution of its species， the research of its earliest cultivated age and the review of its cultivation history and development， the garden chrysanthemum culture and industry， its evolutionary lineages， and its family kinship.
The most important achievements of the book include：
Firstly， it identifies the scientific name of chrysanthemum. Chrysanthemum is the general name for ornamental chrysanthemum， aesthetic chrysanthemum， and medical chrysanthemum cultivated nowadays. The author applies the book name Garden chrysanthemum to distinguish it from other wild chrysanthemum species， but the scientific name adopted for chrysanthemum is different all over the world and different names are adopted by the same species. In his view， as a species， chrysanthemum was named by Ranatuelle， a French horticulturist， after a lateral branch of the chrysanthemum plants （holotype） cultivated by him in 1792. Its scientific name （correct name， legitimate name） is Chrysanthemum × morifolium， instead of the commonly used Dendranthema morifolium or Chrysanthemum grandiflora.
Secondly， it confirms that the Garden chrysanthemum was formed by the natural hybridization of different Chrysanthemum vestitum in nature. According to Mr. Chen's research， this process is complicate. The ancestor of Garden chrysanthemum， called Pseudo-chrysanthemum， was formed by the natural hybridization between the proto-species of Chrysanthemum vestitum and Chrysanthemum indicum growing in Eastern China， which could take place in Jiangxi province and its surrounding areas. Subsequently， under the natural and artificial cultivation conditions， the introgression of a variety of wild chrysanthemum species was resulted from the constant natural re-hybridization of Pseudo-chrysanthemum， and consequently it originated rich varieties of chrysanthemum gradually.
Thirdly， it confirms the earliest age of the chrysanthemum （Pseudo-chrysanthemum or Garden chrysanthemum） being cultivated in China. According to his research， the Drinking Poem of Mr. Wu Liu （Five Willow） is the evidence of the beginning of cultivating chrysanthemum in China， while the late Eastern Jin Dynasty （365 – 427 AD） may be the earliest time when Chinese started to cultivate chrysanthemum with purpose. Therefore， the chrysanthemum is originated from China.
The words I used to describe the essence of the book is less than 1000， however， it takes Mr. Chen 50 years to get this conclusion. He displays to us in the book how he tried to prove the origin of chrysanthemum through experiments and acquire the earliest type of chrysanthemum recognized by him.
It is amazing that Mr. Chen did obtain his original type of Garden chrysanthemum by artificial hybrid of Chrysanthemum vestitum and Chrysanthemum indicum. Besides， after traveling a long way of seeking， the natural hybrids of these two species were found at Mount Tianzhu in Qianshan， Anqing， his hometown， which is just separated by a river in Chaisang， Xunyang（present Jiujiang）， where Tao Yuanming once lived. The two places are so close that we couldn’t help thinking that Tao Yuanming perhaps picked the Chrysanthemum there and planted under his fence one day 1700 years ago.
The features of the book The Origin of Garden Chrysanthemum are as below： being rich in content， paying equal attention to theory and experiment， being high in academic level， and basically being compiled along the research history. It can be divided into three parts：
Part 1： chapter 1 to chapter 3 is a comprehensive review of the development history and culture of Chinese chrysanthemum and its contribution to the world， and further introduces the wild species of Chinese Chrysanthemum and the evolution process of naming the Chrysanthemum.
Part 2： chapter 4 to chapter 9 elaborates the examples of researching the origin of chrysanthemum， experiments and explores the impact of the Chrysanthemum germplasm on the origination of Chrysanthemum， from traditional fields such as comparative morphology， numerical taxonomy， and palynology to the modern methods such as cytology， and molecular biology. At the same time， the author certifies the penetration of Chrysanthemum germplasm in the origination of Chrysanthemum by artificial hybridization， and attempts to reveal the whole generating process by totally experiments to recover the forming of Chrysanthemum and its change in species. Although the final goal is not completely fulfilled yet， a new breakthrough and great achievements has been acquired.
Part 3： chapter 10 to chapter 12 makes a forecast on the development and application of Chrysanthemum and future research work on the origin of Chrysanthemum， which represent the determination and confidence of Mr. Chen on fully restore the formation process of chrysanthemum， and his advice and recommendations left to his students， indicating the direction， methods and objectives for the future research of chrysanthemum.
As a younger scholar， I have the honor to read this book in the first time， and get an apperception after reading that perseverance and persistence are needed in academic studies， and there is no difference between the hardships of study to obtain the mathematical crown jewel of Goldbach Conjecture or to answer a question concerning the origin of life such as "chicken-and-egg". And Mr. Chen Junyu added much more unexpected difficulties to these hardships from the moment he decided to adopt experimental methods to annotate a speciation process， which is exactly what we need to learn and inherit from him.
I am wondering that besides chrysanthemum， peony， lotus， osmanthus， and Chinese rose all reflect the traditional culture of China as well， whose diverse species derives from the Chinese land with ancient civilizations. Can we study their origins and evolution histories by applying the methods designed by Mr. Chen？ Therefore， I particularly recommend this book to professionals， to students， to flower lovers， to the general readers as the book will certainly provide beneficial inspiration to whoever read it.