"Bauhinia" first appeared in culture.

Jin Jing holds it as a pillow and Bauhinia holds it as a bed. -Han Anonymous "Ancient Songs"

In this paper, bauhinia can be used not only as a bed but also as a pillow. This is not only bauhinia, but also the first appearance of Jinjing. "Jinjing" is a kind of Jing tree, which can't correspond to a certain plant at present. Vitex is usually a shrub. Can shrubs make beds? This is a problem.

In 304 A.D., Southern Vegetation, written by Ji Kang, a writer and botanist in the Western Jin Dynasty, was published, which recorded plants growing in Guangdong, Guangxi, Vietnam and other places. Among them, there are records of "Jinjing" and "Bauhinia".

There are three kinds of Jing and Ningpu: Jin Jing can be used as pillow, Bauhinia can be used as pith, and Bai Jing can be used as shoes. It's completely different from other places. Du Jing in a different place shows that the disease heals itself. If the festival is different, it will be dizzy at the moment of the moon, just like the patient's body. -Golden Rooster contains "Southern Vegetation"

Southern Vegetation records all the plants in the south of China, and Han Ji also made it clear that the "golden wattle" that can be used as a pillow, the "bauhinia flower" that can be used as a bed, and the "white wattle" that can be used as shoes belong to the wattle tree, which is completely different from the "Vitex negundo" and "Vitex negundo".

Therefore, we can basically conclude that "Bauhinia can make a bed" is not a shrub "Bauhinia" in the traditional sense, and apart from the above two works, only one poem in the Ming Dynasty mentioned "using Bauhinia as a bed".

Four Poems in Autumn

The author Wu lived in the Ming Dynasty.

Jinjing is a pillow bed of bauhinia, which has been turned into a room by autumn dust.

There is love in the light, but no dream in the machine.

The stars rot and grieve, but the fire grows long and sighs.

A tree with tung flowers is scattered, and the poor five sons have been frosted.

Wu Jiamao's average year of birth and death is unknown. He lived around Wanli in Ming Shenzong. Less well-known in Wang Shizhen is poetry. With Wu Mengyang, Zang Maoxun and Mao Wei You, they are called four sons. The official book of Nanjing Guanglu Temple was moved to Yunnan for punishment. Jiamao wrote 20 volumes of Yuan Gai Cao Fu, and the Yuan Gai of Si is another name of Tianmu Mountain.

According to the use and geographical distribution of Bauhinia, one of the above-mentioned "Golden Well", "Bai Jing" and "Bauhinia", it is speculated that this "Bauhinia" is actually "Bauhinia".

Although there are five species of Bauhinia plants in China, in addition to the traditional shrub Bauhinia, there are also three species of tree Bauhinia: Bauhinia glabra, Bauhinia cinnabarina and Bauhinia racemosa. But in fact, only the bauhinia in Huangshan is similar to the traditional shrub bauhinia in appearance, and the other three species of bauhinia are not very obvious in the characteristics of "bauhinia" (purple petals are densely distributed on branches), so the author believes that even if the ancients did see three species of bauhinia in the forest, it may not be related to bauhinia, and it can be found from the literature that there are no other bauhinia plants except the traditional shrub bauhinia.

When the so-called "tree bauhinia" was mentioned in ancient literature, it basically grew in the south of China, with a long distance between the north and the south and great cultural differences. It is not surprising that different trees have the same name. The tree in South China that can be used as a bed and is similar in title to "Bauhinia" is a bauhinia.

The scientific name of Bauhinia is Madhuca pasquieri (dubard) H.J. Lam, a tall tree of Bauhinia, with a height of 30 meters and a DBH of 60 cm, which is found in southwestern Guangdong, southwestern Guangxi and southeastern Yunnan. Born in mixed forests or mountain forest margins below 1 100 meters above sea level. It is also produced in northern Vietnam.

Bauhinia is a precious wood and oil tree species in Guangxi. Its heartwood is reddish-brown, shiny, sapwood is light in color, straight in texture, meticulous in structure, hard and thick, beautiful in pattern, less cracked after drying, waterproof and moisture-proof, and not easy to be eaten by insects. It can be used as precious materials for architecture, high-grade furniture, sculpture, handicrafts and interior decoration.

In the book "Answers to Outside the Ridge, Volume VI, Door Use", Bauhinia can be used not only as a bed, but also as a beam, which is not only a furniture material, but also a building material.

Answers beyond the Ridge, Volume VI, Using Doors (Excerpt)

Author Zhou, Qu Fei, Song,

China hamster ovary (short for Chinese hamster ovary)

There are two kinds of rare treasures in Qinzhou seamount: one is bauhinia, and the other is hard iron stone, which is more vivid than swallowing fat and easy to be straight and folded. I think it's a pillar, but it can be hundreds of years. When it comes to black wood, it is considered a great ship, and the world is wonderful.

Zhou Qufei (1134-1189), born in Yongjia (now Wenzhou, Zhejiang), is the grandson of Zhou Xing. Geographer of Southern Song Dynasty. Jinshi in the first year of Longxing. Professor Li Qinjiang and Chun Xi Zhong were sentenced to Jingjiang Prefecture. 1 178 published Answers Beyond the Ridge, which is a representative work of ancient geography in China.

Answer Outside the Ridge records the social economy, living customs of ethnic minorities, natural resources, mountains, rivers, places of interest and so on in Lingnan area in Song Dynasty (now Guangdong and Guangxi). The articles recorded are detailed in analysis, more detailed than the previous Lingnan books, and of great reference value. They are important documents for studying Lingnan social history and geography. Originally lost, this edition was compiled from Yongle Dadian. Zhou Qufei is an official of Xichun in Guilin. This is a record of the event. After returning to the east, there were many people who asked Ling about foreign affairs, so the book was named after him.

Bauhinia is more famous in wood field than in botany field, commonly known as Bauhinia hainanensis. Hainan produces good wood easily. Besides Huang Huali, there are several kinds of hardwoods, all of which are rare. Such as slope base, green husk, biological mother, wild litchi and bauhinia. Among them, Bauhinia wood is known as green steel bar, which has outstanding properties and high oil density and cannot be processed by general tools.

Legend has it that when Shennong tasted a hundred herbs, he met bauhinia wood, which was tough and difficult to break. When logging, he only saw the yellow-red sticky juice from the bark, and the wood was intact. So Shennong cast an axe and broke the bauhinia tree, so later generations named this axe "Bauhinia Axe".

The word "Bauhinia" is catchy, noble and elegant, and has been loved by people since ancient times. Therefore, some non-Bauhinia plants are also easily called "Bauhinia". In addition to the "Bauhinia" in Hainan, there are also "Bauhinia" in Hong Kong with similar names, but their appearance and habits are actually quite different.

Take apart the word "Bauhinia" and you will know why there are "Bauhinia" everywhere in the country.

Purple: the shortest wavelength in visible light, and the composite color of red and blue: purplish red. The color advocated by Taoists and rulers in some dynasties is often preceded by the word "purple" in their palaces, costumes and utensils: purple clothes. Purple book (A. Tao Jing; B. imperial edict). Purple patent (imperial edict) Zitai (the place where the immortal emperor lived). Purple gas (auspicious gas, often a harbinger of the emergence of emperors, sages or treasures). Purple ribbon. Zi Yuan (Palace). Zeke. Ziguangge Palace Museum. Purple robe and gold belt.

Purple gas came from the east: I won a great victory when I went through the customs, which was passed down from generation to generation.

Liu Hanxiang's Biography of Immortals: "Laozi's westward journey made the shade see a purple floating, but Laozi took a green cow." Legend has it that before Lao Tzu crossed Hangu Pass, Guan Yinxi saw purple gas coming from the east and knew that saints would pass by. Sure enough, I came riding a green cow. In the old days, it was a metaphor for auspiciousness, and later it was said that "purple gas came from the east" was auspicious. Purple gas is purple gas, and the ancients thought that purple was related to being an official. The uniforms of many officials are purple. Purple gas is mainly used for the plaque of scholarly family.

Jing: shrub name. Also known as Chu. There are many kinds, such as Vitex negundo, Vitex negundo, Bauhinia, etc. Jinghua (that is, Bauhinia, a metaphor for Brother Kun Zhong, with lush branches). Jingyu (the jade of Jingshan; Yu Mei is a talented person. Putin (an excellent talent with beautiful qualities, not appointed). Jingxiang (refers to ancient Jingzhou and Xiangyang County). Jingyang (Jingzhou and Yangzhou. Also refers to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River).

The words "purple" and "Beijing" have good meanings. Many plants can use their names, but there is only one real bauhinia. The earliest "Bauhinia" in literature is not the real "Bauhinia", but "Bauhinia wood". Fortunately, scholars of all ages also know that the traditional shrub Bauhinia is more used for garden viewing than for making beds, so there is no mention in the works that "Bauhinia can make beds".

Bauhinia: a tufted or solitary shrub, 2-5 meters high. Bark and twigs are light gray and white. Leaves papery, nearly round or triangular, with red and purple flowers in spring. For viewing. Bark, wood and roots can be used as medicine.

The aliases of Bauhinia are: Mantiaohong, Callicarpa, Sang Wu, Kuang Luo Mulberry, Luoqian Mulberry, Rouhong, Neixiao, Tuanjie Tree, Homesickness Tree, Bauhinia, Bailin Tree, Saffron, Zijin Plate, Flat-headed Weng, Coral Tree, etc.

Flora of China calls Bauhinia a "beautiful woody flower". Various documents have praised Bauhinia: the trunk is straight and overgrown, and it blooms before leaves in early spring, and the flowers look like butterflies. When they bloom, there are many flowers, clusters of them cling to the branches, and the trees are full of flowers, not only on the branches, but also on the old stems, giving people the feeling of flowers; In summer and autumn, green leaves are dancing and green everywhere; After the leaves fall in winter, the branches and bones are exposed, and the feeling of vitality is vivid. The first poem that recorded Bauhinia correctly appeared in Wei and Jin Dynasties.

Twenty Four Seasons Folk Songs: Spring? Second "

The author is anonymous in Wei and Jin Dynasties.

The green road is long, and the red pepper on the bauhinia is heavy. Blow out of the suburbs and play chunying.

Dan pepper is pepper. Woody, the fruit is red, so it is called.

Before this poem, "Bauhinia" was only a kind of "Vitex negundo", which was not independent, and the words "purple" and "Vitex negundo" were not integrated. Of course, there is no more culture and connotation. This poem only mentions wild pepper and bauhinia, but does not describe this plant more. However, the following three works, Jade, Biography of Filial Piety and Continued Harmony, laid the foundation of Bauhinia culture and made Bauhinia famous all over the world and deeply rooted in people's hearts. Since then, more and more works praising Bauhinia have appeared.