Walking in the wilderness, "plant hunters" with the mission of "hunting" exotic flowers and trees originated in Europe and prospered in Britain.

How does this low-key and mysterious profession in the plant world change the distribution of plants in the world in the torrent of thousands of years?

Why does the famous "plant hunter" Wilson call China "the mother of gardens in the world"?

Yin Kaipu, author of "Centennial Pursuit - Witnessing Environmental Changes in Western China" and a researcher at the Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency's "East and West Questions" to give an in-depth interpretation of this.

　　[Concurrent] Yin Kaipu, a researcher at the Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

　　("Plant Hunter") It is generally accepted that it appeared in the 17th century, and it has a history of hundreds of years.

Plant resources are the common wealth of all mankind, and the emergence of the profession of "plant hunter" has brought about a great migration of plants in the world.

While Chinese plants have been introduced in large quantities to the West, a large number of grain and vegetable varieties have also been introduced from abroad.

China's main food crops, corn and potatoes, came from Mexico and South America in North America, respectively.

　　From 1899 to 1918, he (Wilson) visited China five times to collect plants. He collected a total of 65,000 plant specimens including 4,700 species of plants, and collected 1,593 plant seeds and 168 plant specimens. slices were brought to the West.

So Westerners call it "China's Wilson" and call him the one who opened the door to China's "Western Garden".

　　He (Wilson) first put forward the famous thesis that China is "the mother of gardens in the world" on the basis of summarizing the previous proposition that China is "the central flower country".

In his book ("A Naturalist in Huaxi"), he has a few sentences that justify his conclusions.

He even wrote, "If there were no imported products from China earlier, how pitiful our gardens and related flower resources would be today." His brand-new views are still recognized by the Western horticultural community today.

This is his famous assertion that China is "the mother of (the world) gardens".

Responsible editor: [Ji Xiang]