W. J. Bean 与《不列颠群岛耐寒树木和灌木》
这本著作的作者是英国园艺学家威廉·杰克逊·宾 (William Jackson Bean, 1863–1947)。他从 1883 年起就在邱园 (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) 工作, 一待就是四十六年, 先后担任树木园负责人与植物园主任。在 20 世纪上半叶大量中国西南与喜马拉雅植物涌入英国园艺界的浪潮中, 宾与当时活跃在华西的一线采集者保持密切联络, 因此对所描述植物的园艺表现拥有第一手经验。他的代表作《不列颠群岛耐寒树木和灌木》(Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles) 于 1914 年首版两卷出版, 是英国园艺文献史上的一件大事。
宾在世时这本书就被加印到第七版 (1950 年三卷本), 他离世前已经完成了下一版修订的大部分准备工作。第八版 (1970 年代四卷本) 以及德斯蒙德·克拉克 (Desmond Clarke) 在 1988 年编纂的《补遗》(Supplement) 是这个在线版本采用的底本。
在线版的内容范围
在线版收录的植物条目跨越二百多个属, 从 Abelia 到 Azara, 包括槭属 (Acer) 八十余种、栎属 (Quercus) 近八十种、松属 (Pinus) 近五十种以及山茶属 (Camellia)、木兰属 (Magnolia) 等观赏园艺中常见的类群。每一条都包含形态描述、原产地、引入英国的历史、栽培要点与邱园等处的具体观赏记录。条目按属名拉丁字母顺序排列, 通过 23 个字母索引页 (A 到 W) 进入。
这套在线版的版权持有人是宾与克拉克家族, 出版商是英国 Hachette UK (前身 John Murray), 数字化与维护工作由国际树木学会 (International Dendrology Society) 牵头, 通过其下属的树木学慈善公司 (Dendrology Charitable Company) 资助。
读者如何使用
网站的 Quick Search (右上角快速搜索) 会同时检索 Bean 用过的名字、现代通用名和常用俗名; 进阶搜索 (Advanced Search) 则可限定只查主名、纳入异名、只查俗名, 也支持在文章全文里搜任意词条。在主名/种名输入框留空、仅在「文章正文」框里写几个词, 是查找栽培或引入史段落的常见做法。少于四个字母的词不会被检索, 除非将搜索类型切换为「俗名」一项。
条目页内一般附有推荐种植场景、典型成熟株型与邱园或其它英国庭园的实例参考, 这些文字大多沿用 1970 年代版本的判断, 对于今天的园艺爱好者, 仍可作为英国本土气候下的可靠基准。
学术与园艺价值
从学术角度, 这套在线版提供了 20 世纪英国木本植物引入史的一手资料: 威尔逊 (E. H. Wilson)、福雷斯特 (George Forrest)、金登·沃德 (Frank Kingdon Ward)、洛克 (Joseph Rock) 等采集者从中国西南带回来的种子与活植物如何进入英国苗圃与邱园、又被宾本人如何评价, 在条目正文里都能查到。
从应用角度, 它被英国及爱尔兰的园艺师普遍当作「Bean」使用——这一简称本身已经是行业内对这部工具书的别名。今天的英国本土园艺师、树木园管理者、苗圃从业者以及园艺史研究者, 仍然把它视为不可替代的参考。
与国际树木学会的关系
国际树木学会 (International Dendrology Society, IDS) 于 1952 年由罗伯特·德·贝尔德 (Robert de Belder)、乔治·德·贝尔德 (Georges de Belder, 比利时)、格尔德·克吕斯曼夫妇 (Gerd Krüssmann, 德国) 和雅克·隆巴茨 (Jacques Lombarts, 荷兰) 五人共同发起, 旨在推动树木与其它木本植物的研究、保护与交流, 并通过 1994 年成立的树木学慈善公司开展慈善活动。
学会本身还运营一个面向更广义温带木本植物的姊妹项目《树木和灌木在线》 (Trees and Shrubs Online), 用来持续更新 Bean 原书并纳入新条目, 让这部经典的现代参照版能够跟随当代分类与采集进展。
W. J. Bean and the Online Edition of Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
W. J. Bean (1863–1947) joined the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 1883 as a student-gardener and remained there for forty-six years, becoming head of the Arboretum and later Curator. During the great tide of Chinese and Himalayan introductions in the early twentieth century, he corresponded directly with collectors such as E. H. Wilson, George Forrest, Frank Kingdon Ward and Joseph Rock, so many of the plants he described were ones he had watched grow in cultivation at Kew. His two-volume Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles first appeared in 1914 and is still known throughout British horticulture simply as “Bean”.
Five further editions appeared during his lifetime, and the seventh, in three volumes, was published in 1950, three years after his death. The Eighth Edition, issued in four volumes during the 1970s, together with Desmond Clarke’s 1988 Supplement, is the text that this online edition reproduces, with the agreement of the Bean and Clarke families and of the publisher Hachette UK (formerly John Murray).
Scope of the Online Edition
The site covers more than two hundred genera, from Abelia to Azara. Genus pages for Acer, Quercus, Pinus, Camellia and the rest list tens of species each (for example, Acer 80+, Quercus around 80, Pinus about 50), with descriptions, native ranges, history of introduction to Britain, cultivation notes and references to specific Kew or garden specimens. Entries are arranged by genus in Latin alphabetical order, reached through 23 letter indexes (A to W).
The copyright in the text is held by the Bean and Clarke families. The project is hosted and maintained by the International Dendrology Society (IDS), whose charitable arm, the Dendrology Charitable Company, has supported the digital work since 1994.
How Readers Use the Site
The Quick Search box at the top right searches Bean’s name, the modern name and common names together. The Advanced Search page lets visitors restrict the search to main names, add synonyms, or restrict to common names, and also supports a full-text search in the body of each article. Leaving the Genus or species box blank and entering words in the Text of article box is the standard way to find passages about cultivation or introduction history. Words of less than four letters are not searched unless the Common names option is selected.
Most articles close with cultivation guidance, typical mature size and pointers to specific British garden specimens, much of it carried over from the Eighth Edition. For gardeners in the British Isles it still functions as a reference baseline against which newer introductions can be measured.
Scholarly and Horticultural Value
For scholars, the online edition is a primary source for the introduction of temperate woody plants into British horticulture during the first half of the twentieth century. The texts describe how seed and living plants brought back by Wilson, Forrest, Kingdon Ward and Rock reached Kew and British nurseries, and record Bean’s own assessments of how they performed.
For working horticulturists, nurserymen, arboretum managers and garden historians in Britain and Ireland, it remains an irreplaceable reference, and the short form “Bean” has long been used as an alias for the book in everyday professional speech.
The Role of the International Dendrology Society
The International Dendrology Society (IDS) was founded in 1952 by Robert de Belder and Georges de Belder (Belgium), Dr and Mrs Gerd Krüssmann (Germany) and Jacques Lombarts (Netherlands). Its aims are to promote the study and enjoyment of trees and other woody plants, to bring together dendrologists from all round the world, and to support the conservation of rare and endangered species. In 1994 the Society set up the Dendrology Charitable Company to formalise its charitable work.
IDS also runs the related Trees and Shrubs Online project, which updates Bean’s text and adds new entries so that the modern reference continues to track current taxonomy and recent field collections.
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