After three changes of jobs, this "Internet porn star" finally found out his last name

In early spring in Guangzhou, you can see beautiful trees blooming everywhere. The first to bloom are the bell-flowered cherries , which are covered with purple bells in early February; followed by the kapok , whose branches are red and seem to be burning with flames; and then the royal pink Bauhinia comes slowly, and their blooming flowers are like pink clouds, which makes people feel springy and girlish.

In order, they are Cerasus campanulata , Bombax ceiba and Bauhinia variegata . | Midori & JMGarg & Peter1968 / wikimedia commons

But among all the colorful flowers, there is a bright yellow light that is particularly eye-catching, like a golden lightning that breaks through the clouds and comes to people's eyes. With this golden color, this unique flower has set off a trend in recent years, and it frequently appears on social networks such as WeChat Moments in spring. Yes, this is the yellow bell tree, one of the most beautiful flowering trees, and it is also an absolute Internet celebrity today... er, it might be more appropriate to call it "Internet Huang".

Yellow bell tree丨Michelia

Trumpet and long beans

Yellow trumpet tree is not only found in Guangzhou. Everyone loves beauty. This tree, native to Central and South America, is widely cultivated in tropical regions around the world. It doesn't really look like a wind chime. The single small flower of yellow trumpet tree looks a bit like a trumpet or a trumpet . It has an English name "yellow trumpet tree", which I think is more vivid.

The flower of the yellow bell tree looks like a golden trumpet丨Michelia

Like many flowering trees, the yellow bell tree is also a plant whose "flowers and leaves do not meet each other", and it has a different appearance in each season. After the flowering period, the yellow bell tree begins to grow leaves, changing into a lush green appearance, blending in with the crowd. However, if you look closely, you can still find some identifying features: its leaves are palmately compound leaves composed of 5 leaflets , which grow opposite to each other on the branches. The leaves have a very rough texture and are also hairy. Therefore, in the summer, if you find a tree that looks like this on the side of the road, note its location and come back next spring to admire its beauty.

Branches and leaves of the yellow bell tree丨Michelia

Under suitable conditions, the yellow bell tree can also bear fruit. Its fruits are long and hairy like beans, hanging on the branches one by one, and swaying back and forth when the wind blows... Hey, it seems that the yellow bell tree with fruits actually looks a bit like a "wind chime". When the fruit is ripe, it will naturally crack and fly out countless small paper-like seeds. Like many plants in the Bignoniaceae family, the seeds of the yellow bell tree are thin and have wings, which can be spread by wind.

Fruiting Yellow Bell Tree丨Michelia

The cracked capsule of the yellow bell tree丨KENPEI / wikimedia commons

From America to Europe

In taxonomy, the yellow bell tree belongs to the Bignoniaceae , but as to which genus it belongs to, it is a tangled story. First of all, the Chinese name of the Bignoniaceae is a bit interesting. We know that the names of many families come from common genera or common species in the family, such as lilies of the genus Lilium in the Liliaceae family, roses of the genus Rosa in the Rosaceae family, and so on. However, there is no "Binweigen" under the Bignoniaceae family, and there is no plant with the official Chinese name "Binwei" . The "Flora of China" only mentions that "Binweigen" is another name for Campsis grandiflora .

Trumpet creeper丨Solipsist~commonswiki / wikimedia commons

Looking at the Latin name, Bignoniaceae has a corresponding genus Bignonia . However, plants of this genus are not common, and there are none in China, but it is the earliest home of the yellow bell tree. The discoverer of the yellow bell tree was Nikolaus von Jacquin, an 18th-century physician and botanist. He was born in the Netherlands and later moved to Austria, but he did not actually "go abroad" because the Netherlands and Austria at that time nominally belonged to the same country - the Holy Roman Empire .

Portrait of Jacques Enz | Wikimedia Commons

The Holy Roman Empire has little to do with the Roman Empire we are familiar with (Jing Luo cries). Its territory is mainly in today's Germany and its surrounding areas. There are various princes under it, and the emperor has basically no sense of existence. French thinker Voltaire once commented on the Holy Roman Empire in one sentence: "Neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire." However, this embarrassing empire still has a magnificent palace, located in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. Coincidentally, Emperor Franz I, who reigned from 1745 to 1765, was a nature lover. He even built a botanical garden in the Schönbrunn Palace, and Jacquen was one of the botanists who was ordered to find exotic flowers and plants for him all over the world .

Romanesque pavilion in the Schönbrunn Palace Gardens | David.Monniaux / wikimedia commons

From 1755 to 1759, Jacques came to Central America, a place with extremely high biodiversity. In the deep green rainforest all year round, a golden yellow bell tree was so dazzling that Jacques would not miss it. In this way, along with many other plants, the yellow bell tree was brought back to Europe.

The yellow bell tree came from America to Europe, and then followed the footsteps of Europeans to the world, becoming the current "Internet celebrity"丨José Reynaldo da Fonseca / wikimedia commons

Yellow bell tree

In the following decades, Jacquen has been committed to plant classification research, including both European plants and those he brought back from Central America, and published a large number of new species. Jacquen's name can be abbreviated to four letters "Jacq." when writing the Latin name of the name, which is a proof of his influence in the botanical community. Generally, the more powerful a person is, the shorter the abbreviation can be . For example, the founder of taxonomy, Mr. Linnaeus, only needs to write one "L." In 1797, the yellow bell tree was officially published by Jacquen and placed in the genus of the Bignoniaceae.

Bignonia capreolata丨hannahnewsom / inatrualist

Several decades later, the research on Bignoniaceae gradually became more detailed. In 1845, the yellow bell tree was moved to the genus Tecoma , because most of the species in the genus Tecoma are vines, while the yellow bell tree is a tree. In 1887, the yellow bell tree was moved to the genus Tabebuia , because most of the plants left in the genus Tabebuia have pinnate leaves, while the yellow bell tree has palmate leaves. At this point, the classification of the yellow bell tree has been generally recognized, and the issue seems to have been settled.

Tecoma stans of the genus Tecoma丨IM3847 / wikimedia commons

Tabebuia roseo-alba from the genus Abestrobi / wikimedia commons

But in 1970, things took a turn for the better. Brazilian botanist Joe Mattos published a new genus Handroanthus and moved some species of the genus Quercus into it. This was not recognized by the botanical community at the time, and American botanist Alwyn H. Gentry even thought it was just a mess and added to the confusion. In 1992, Gentry published a long article, which detailed the revision of 99 species of the genus Quercus, and did not take the new genus seriously.

After entering the 21st century, molecular biology techniques have been increasingly used in plant classification. People were surprised to find that at the genetic level, Handroanthus and Quercus can really be clearly separated. In 2007, the genus published by Matos officially restored its identity, and our protagonist, the yellow bell tree, changed its home again and came to the new genus, and the Chinese name of this genus is also called "Wind Bell Wood Genus". Putting aside the invisible genes, the two genera can also find some differences in appearance, such as the general yellow flowers of the Wind Bell Wood genus, and the purple-red flowers of the Quercus genus; the morphology of the calyx is also different, etc.

Among men, Lu Bu; among horses, Red Hare; among trees, the yellow-flowered trumpet tree丨Michelia

At this point, the taxonomy of the trumpet tree has finally come to an end . I guess you are already confused by this point on your mobile phone. You may still be thinking: Isn’t it just a flower? Just make it beautiful. Why make it so complicated? Yes, taxonomy is indeed a tedious thing. Even the taxonomists themselves say: "The more you classify, the more tired you are!"

However, scientific research is a process of gradually approaching the truth . In the long story, we seek little clues, strive to find the connection between thousands of species , and build a network of relationships in the vast natural world. In a sense, this is also a kind of romance, and it also lays the foundation for more in-depth research in other disciplines.

Plants will not change fundamentally just because people change their names, nor will they change more because of people's records. The "useless" persistence of taxonomists can leave a little inspiration for people thousands of years later: we once came to this world to record what we saw. If you also love this world, please don't miss the beauty I have seen丨slftam / inaturalist

For example, we already know that the Bignoniaceae family has the yellow bell tree, and if we want to find more beautiful trees with beautiful flowers, can we explore its relatives? Yes, just like the purple bell tree ( Handroanthus impetiginosus ) in the same genus, the rose-red bell tree ( Tabebuia rosea ) in the old genus, and the jacaranda ( Jacaranda mimosifolia ), etc., all of which are in full bloom and compete for beauty. In the second half of this year, we will also introduce the flame tree ( Spathodea campanulata ) from the Bignoniaceae family, which has red and yellow flowers. I hope everyone will continue to pay more attention to it.

In order, they are Handroanthus impetiginosus , Tabebuia rosea and Jacaranda mimosifolia .

Author: Han Xiao

This article comes from GuokrNature (ID: GuokrNature)

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