Azalea

Author: Zhang Luguī
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: Azalea is one of the ten traditional famous flowers in China, belonging to the Ericaceae family and the Rhododendron genus, a woody plant. It is a relatively large genus among angiosperms, with over 900 species worldwide, distributed in Europe, Asia, and North America, with Asia having the most, approximately 850 species. China is the country with the highest diversity of azaleas, with about 530 species, accounting for 59% of the species worldwide. The distribution of azaleas in China is predominantly south of the Yangtze River, with the southwestern region (Yunnan, Tibet, Sichuan) being the most concentrated, producing about 403 species, accounting for 76.5% of China's azalea varieties. As a result, it has become the birthplace and modern distribution center of azaleas in the world; while there are very few azaleas north of the Yangtze River. In 1820, Belgian horticulturists used imported azaleas for hybrid breeding, creating winter-blooming double-flowered garden varieties, which were then called Belgian azaleas (the Belgian azaleas currently popular in the market have a habit of blooming all year round and are newly cultivated varieties), and later spread to the East, known as Western azaleas, or simply as Western azaleas. Japan originally had about 31 native azalea species, which were later introduced to Japan by Japanese envoys to Tang China, leading to the cultivation of many varieties. In 1907, Japan imported a batch of Western azaleas from the Netherlands and Belgium, and now there are over 2,000 cultivated varieties.