What trees have purple flowers
In comparison with the common experience of planting purple flowering trees that most people have and the purple flowering trees commonly seen by the roadside, the editor of this site will introduce to you next.
In the late spring, during the Qingming Festival, when all the flowers fade, the peony blooms, and the white and yellow flowers wither, the purple flowers bloom. In the Central Plains, in Henan, north and south of the Yellow River, everywhere you can see the blooming flowers of the tung tree, which are full of trees, white with a hint of purple, purple with a hint of white, fragrant and warm.
So, are they the flowers of the tung tree or the flowers of the Paulownia? Are tung flowers the same as Paulownia flowers? What are the differences between Paulownia and tung trees? Both have natural attributes and ornamental value. What literary and historical stories do tung flowers have?
As spring is about to leave, let's get close to these full trees of tung flowers.
【Season】Tung flowers are the flowers of Qingming and late spring.
The Qingming solar term has three signs: the first is when the tung flowers begin to bloom, the second is when field mice turn into quails, and the third is when rainbows appear.
The flower omens of Qingming are: the first is tung flowers, the second is wheat flowers, and the third is willow flowers.
In the Qingming season, it is already late spring. White flowers fade, red flowers wither, yellow flowers fade, and tung flowers bloom all over the trees, purple flowers like trumpets, trees filled with sweet fragrance. In the city, on the streets or in the communities, purple tung flowers bloom in the air. In the countryside, by the riverside or in the villages, the purple of tung flowers colors the scenery.
Tung flowers, also known as the flowers of Qingming and late spring, are particularly evident in Song Ci (Song Dynasty poetry).
“The tung flowers are in full bloom, and it is the time of light rain in Qingming” (Liu Yong's "Tung Flowers in Full Bloom").
“Living in the South, after Qingming and Hanshi... every year, the刺桐 flowers fall, and the shallow cold of spring is powerless to support it. The weather is officially warming up” (Xin Qiji's "Man Jiang Hong").
"In the sound of the crying bird, spring light turns into a spring dream. I ask the East Emperor, who sends poems... the light silk fan is small, and the tung flowers fly like a phoenix" (Jiang Jie's "Powder Butterfly").
In the Tang Dynasty, tung flowers were also the flowers of late spring. "Suddenly seeing the purple tung flowers, I look forward to the Qingming Festival tomorrow" (Bai Juyi's "Cold Food by the River").
【Tales】Tung flowers are the flowers of poetry and friendship.
Tung flowers have natural and social attributes. In the Mid-Tang period, the mutual recitation between two great poets from Henan gave tung flowers new connotations and enhanced their character.
These two Henan poets are Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen, who were a famous pair of good friends in ancient poetry circles.
The magical aspect of their friendship is as if there is a spiritual resonance. In the fourth year of Yuanhe (809 AD), Yuan Zhen was on official business in Dongchuan, and Bai Juyi was in Chang'an. He visited Qujiang and Cien Temple with his brother Bai Xingjian and Li Shaozhi, and while drinking at Li Shaozhi's house, he missed his good friend Yuan Zhen.
So, he wrote a poem titled "Remembering Yuan Jiu While Drunk with Li Eleven." "Drunk to break the spring愁, drunk to break the flower branch as wine tokens. Suddenly missing an old friend far away, I calculate that he should have arrived in Liangzhou today." He estimated that Yuan Zhen's journey should have reached Liangzhou (now Hanzhong, Shaanxi) by this time.
COINCIDENTALLY, at the time Bai Juyi wrote this poem, Yuan Zhen was in Liangzhou and wrote a "Dream of Liangzhou." The preface of the poem says that after falling asleep in the posthouse that night, he dreamed of himself and Li Shaozhi and Bai Juyi visiting Qujiang and Cien Temple, and after waking up, he was overwhelmed with emotions and wrote, "Dreaming of you wandering around Qujiang, also visiting Cien Temple. The attendants call people to drive away the horses, and suddenly I am in ancient Liangzhou."
There was another coincidence related to tung flowers. In the fifth year of Yuanhe (810 AD), Yuan Zhen was demoted to the position of military commander in Jiangling for criticizing powerful ministers and offending eunuchs. On his way to his post, he stayed at Zengfeng Pavilion and, looking at the tung flowers inside and outside the pavilion, he thought of Bai Juyi. "The faint moonlight shines on the tung flowers, the flowers are hazy... That night, I missed you from afar and thought of you as thin as a knife... I am in the mountain pavilion, and the tung flowers are falling all over the ground." The moonlight is dim, the tung flowers are quiet, and it's hard to fall asleep missing a friend.
【Records】It is said that the phoenix only perches on tung trees, not on Paulownia trees.
About tung flowers, the late Tang poet Li Shangyin has a line, "Tung flowers for miles on the red road of the mountains, the young phoenix is clearer than the old phoenix's voice." Du Fu also has a poem, "The parrot pecks at the remaining seeds of fragrant rice, the old phoenix perches on the green tung branch."
The allusion comes from "The Book of Songs·Daya·Juan A", "Tung trees grow, on the sunny side. The phoenix cries, on the high hill," which means that the phoenix only perches on tung trees, and tung trees that face the sun are more lush, which is the meaning of this poem.
Jia Si Xie's "Qimin Yaoshu·Volume Fifth" records the planting method of tung trees. "Tung leaves that bloom but do not bear fruit are called white tung. Those with fruit and green bark are called tung trees, and now people call them 'green tung' because of their green bark." He divided tung trees into white tung and green tung. Among them, green tung "bears fruit on the leaves... Roasted and eaten, it is very delicious. The taste is like lotus seeds, and it is harmless to eat more."
"White tung has no fruit," the things that look like fruit on the trees in winter are actually the flower houses of the following spring. White tung "can be used as musical instruments after the tree is mature," the wood can be used to make musical instruments, similar to today's Paulownia trees. And "the two materials of green and white" can be used to make "cart panels, trays, and wooden clogs," that is, they can be used as materials for daily production and life.
In ancient China, there were special works about tung trees. In the Qingli period of the Northern Song Dynasty, Chen Zhu, a reader who failed in the imperial examination several times, because of his love for tung trees, called himself "Tung and Bamboo Lord." Not pursuing fame and fortune, he diligently studied famous agronomic books such as "Qimin Yaoshu" and developed several mu of land around his house, planting hundreds of tung and bamboo trees to study their habits, thus achieving his personal ambition of speaking in the world.
After several years of writing, he wrote the book "Tung Spectrum." This is the earliest Paulownia monograph in China. However, the fatal error of this book is that it mistook the literature on tung trees from previous generations as materials for Paulownia trees. What he planted in his secluded Xishan was Paulownia trees, while the materials he quoted were tung trees.
Actually, such errors still exist today. When everyone sees tung flowers blooming everywhere, they will say, "The tung tree is blooming again." But in fact, the purple-flowering tung trees seen in the Zhengzhou area are mostly Paulownia trees.
【Difference】Paulownia and tung trees are of different families and genera, and tung wood is of higher value.
The difference between Paulownia and green tung is not just a "difference of one word." Tung trees, also known as green tung, are deciduous trees of the tung family tung genus with straight and green trunks. The "Flora of China" records, "Produced in various provinces of China, from Hainan Island in Guangdong to North China, it is also distributed in Japan. Mostly planted artificially," it is an "ornamental tree planted in gardens."
Paulownia is a deciduous tree of the Scrophulariaceae Paulownia genus, with flowers mainly in two colors, light purple and white. There are many varieties of Paulownia, such as Lankao Paulownia, hairy Paulownia, white Paulownia, purple Paulownia, and southern Paulownia.
The morphological characteristics of tung trees in the Flora of China
The difference between the two is evident in the leaf morphology. Among them, tung leaves are cordate, palmately 3-5 lobed, the lobes are triangular, the apex is acuminate, and the base is cordate. Paulownia leaves are long ovate-cordate, sometimes ovate-cordate, the apex is long acuminate or acuminate.
The aforementioned Chen Zhu, although he considered his planted Paulownia trees as tung trees, the book "Tung Spectrum" still has great value. It first divided tung trees into purple tung and white tung, distinguishing between tung and Paulownia trees. At the same time, "Tung Spectrum" recorded different varieties of tung trees such as white tung, purple tung, oil tung,刺桐, tung, and crimson tung.
"Tung Spectrum" pointed out the use value of tung trees. "Tung Spectrum· utensils Seventh" records, "The wood of tung... if not cut at the right time, it will not be eaten by moths; if soaked in moisture, it will not rot; if exposed to wind and sun, it will not crack; if splashed with rain and mud, it will not wither; if dry and wet, its texture does not change," compared with other woods, tung wood is corrosion-resistant and not easily eaten by moths. In addition, tung trees also have the characteristics of fast growth and soft texture.
The Paulownia trees commonly seen by us have certain ornamental value in late spring. Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica·Wood·Tung" records, "Tung flowers into tubes, hence called tung. Its wood is light and soft, white with brocade patterns, hence commonly called white tung, Paulownia, anciently called Yitung."
The above is about what trees have purple flowers and the experience of planting purple flowering trees commonly seen by the roadside. I hope this article can bring you some help!