Chapter 3 Section 2 Animal and Plant Knowledge in "The Book of Songs" and "Xia Xiaozheng"

It is a collection of poems from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period in my country, that is, from the 11th century BC to the 5th century BC. Poets are familiar with animals and plants in nature, and understand their names, shapes and characteristics. They compose poems Things often arise from things, so this collection of poems involves a large number of animal and plant names and a large number of descriptions of the relationship between animals, plants and the environment. There are many poems that mention millet, for example: "Shuo Shu Shuo Shu, I have no food for me." ("Wei Feng·Shuo Shu") "Peng [peng Peng] Peng millet seedlings, cloudy and rainy." ("Cao Feng "Xiaquan")... There are as many as 15 poems that mention millet in total. The content not only involves the name of millet, but also mentions the weeds of millet, the pests of birds, animals, and the relationship between the growth of millet seedlings and rain, etc., which shows that at that time Millet has become the most important food crop in my country.

Ge Zaizhong also appears frequently. In "Wang Feng·Ge Chuang [lei Lei]", there is a poem "Mian Mian Ge Chuang, in the margin of the river". "Guang Ya Shicao" said: "Kudzu is also a vine." When Guo Pu commented on "Er Ya", he also pointed out: At that time, people in the south of the Yangtze River called 藟 as vine, so it can be seen that Ge 藟 is kudzu.It is a perennial vine leguminous plant, it mainly lives in places near the water, its stems grow and its bark can be used as fiber instead of hemp.Not only its name is recorded here, but also its living environment is reflected.

In "Bin [bin] Feng·July", there is a saying that "on the fourth day, the fleas, lambs and leeks are sacrificed".Chives are leeks, a plant of the Liliaceae family, and are one of the oldest cultivated vegetables in my country.In the same poem, there is also the sentence "Qiyueheng (Heng Tongcook) sunflower".Sunflower, known today as mallow, commonly known as winter vegetable, is a plant of the Malvaceae family.Its tender leaves can be used as vegetable food, but also can be used as dry food, and both stems and leaves can be used as medicine.It can be seen that people had grown many kinds of vegetables at that time.

There are many references to hazel and chestnut trees in his "Country Style".For example: "Bei [bei] Feng Jianxi" records: "There are hazelnuts in the mountains, and Lings in Xi [xixi]." Hazel belongs to the Betaceae plant, produced in northern China, and the fruit is called hazelnut, which can be eaten and pressed for oil. .Ling (ancient lotus) grows in low-lying swamps.Regarding sweet potatoes, "Xiaoya·Sweet Flowers" wrote: "The flowers of sweet potatoes; The stems are often entwined on tall trees, and yellow flowers bloom near the top of the trees.

There are 143 kinds of plants and 109 kinds of animals mentioned in the book, a total of 252 kinds.Most of these animals and plants are produced in the Yellow River Basin of my country.More than 2,500 years ago, so many animals and plants in the Yellow River Basin were recorded, which is very rare in the ancient documents of other countries in the world. There is no description on the systematic classification of animals and plants, but the concept of species of animals and plants already exists.For example, in "Daya Shengmin", there are verses "Birth and descent of Jiazhong, Weiqi [ju Ju] Weiji [pi batch], Weimi Weiqian [qi Qi]". "秬" and "秠" are two varieties of millet, one is black millet with one husk of one meter, and the other is black millet with one husk of two meters; "Mi" and "芑" are two varieties of millet, one One is the red seedling Jiagu, and the other is the white seedling Jiagu. "Lu Song·閟〔bibi〕Gong' also has the record of "Shuji heavy [lu road], stalk [zhi straight] immature [zhi to] Shumai". The name of the broad category of varieties, referring to early-maturing varieties and late-maturing varieties, or varieties with short and long growing seasons.In short, it can be seen from the above that not only did the concept of selecting good varieties exist, but also many good varieties appeared, and these varieties have been generalized and classified.

In ancient times, people also classified trees according to their shape. "Zhou Nan·Ge Qin" has "Yellow birds fly and gather in bushes." "Zhou Nan·Han Guang" has "There are trees in the south, so you can't stop thinking about it." .From the deep valley, moved to the arbor" and other verses, in which the words "shrub" and "arbor" appeared.According to "Erya · Shimu" said: "The wood family is born as a shrub." "Mao Zhuan" said: "Shrubs are also gathered trees." "Mao Biography" also said: "Qiao, Gao Ye", "Qiao, Shang Yu Ye." "Zheng Feng · Mountains with Fusu" also has the words "mountains have trees and pines", which connects pine trees and arbors.It can be seen that an arbor refers to a tree that is tall and has a trunk like a pine tree.The two botanical terms "shrub" and "tree" are still in use today.

There are also many poems describing animals. "Daya·Han Yi": "Kongle Hantu, Chuanzexu [xu Xu] 訏, 鲂 [FANGXU Fangxu] Fufu, 麀 [YOU优] Luyu [YUyu] 噳, there are bears and 癳, There are cats and tigers.” Praise the Zhou Xuanwang era (827-782 B.C.) Han Houfeng’s domestic (now Hancheng County, Shaanxi) is rich in products: there are fat dories and catfish in the wide rivers, and females in the mountains. There are deer and stags, there are bears and greyhounds, there are cats and tigers.The cats mentioned here are feral cats, not domestic cats.The poem reflects the ecological situation of Shaanxi Province at that time, and now there are no tigers in Shaanxi.

There are also many chapters and sentences that reflect people's understanding of the relationship between animals, plants and the environment at that time.For example: "Zheng Feng·Mountain has Fusu": "Mountain has Fusu, Xi has Hehua...the mountain has Qiao Song, and Xi has Youlong (Polygonum class)." "Tang Feng·Mountain has Pivot": "Mountain There are pivots, there are elms in Xi, ...the mountains have 栲 [kao Kao], there are 杻 [niu buttons] in the mountains, ...the mountains have lacquer, and there are chestnuts in Xi." There are chestnuts,...there are mulberries in Sakae, and poplars in Sakae.” These verses show that people at that time had clearly realized that some plants, such as pine trees, sumac trees, pivot trees, and castanopsis trees, were suitable for growing on drier mountains or Sakae lands. .Other plants, such as chestnut trees and poplars, are suitable for growing in places with low humidity. Both "Qin Feng" and "Tang Feng" mentioned that "Xi has chestnuts". At that time, the areas where Qin and Jin were located (equivalent to the current central Shaanxi and Shanxi) were mostly humid fields, which were very suitable for planting chestnuts. Tree.Another example: "Zhaonan·Caiping": "To pick apples, in the marshes and in the river... To pick apples, in the stream." "Zhaonan·Caiping": "To pick apples, in the south stream To collect algae on the shore, and to travel there.” The wormwood, duckweed, and algae mentioned were all wild vegetables that were often eaten at that time.The verse fully reflects the poet's understanding of the living environment of these plants: they grow in low humidity swamps and streams with water.Another example: "Xiaoya·Swan Goose": "Swan geese are flying and gather in Zhongze." "Xiaoya·Heming": "Heming is in Jiugao." Gather in the shrubs.” These indicate that people at that time knew that swan geese and cranes lived in swamps, while yellow birds mostly inhabited shrubs.In conclusion, in the ages, people have known that different environments are suitable for growing different animals and plants.

In the long-term life and production practice, ancient people gradually realized that the annual cyclical and regular changes of climate are closely related to the growth and decline of plants and various agricultural activities of human beings. This is the initial knowledge of phenology.This kind of knowledge has already developed to a certain extent in the Western Zhou Dynasty.At that time, people had divided the year into four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter.In the middle, the poems "the spring is late, pick the flowers and Qiqi" and "the autumn is desolate, and the flowers are fat (feifei)" reflect the relationship between the changes in spring and autumn and the prosperity and withering of plants.In a well-known farming poem "Bin Feng·July", it not only wrote "April Xiulu (yao waist)" (April setaria spiking), "July Hengkui and bean" (July cooking Boil sunflower vegetables and soybeans), "August Broken Pot" (picking gourds in August), "Juyue Shuju [ju Ju], picking tea salamander [chu Chu]" (September picking hemp, bitter herbs and chopping firewood ), "October Nahejia" (harvesting rice) poems, which record the plant phenology; also wrote "May Mingyu" (May cicadas singing), "Skatydid [zhongfinal] moving stocks" (locusts born , can only move its legs and jump, but can't fly), "June Shaji vibrating feathers" (June weaving mother began to vibrate feathers), crickets "July in the wild", "August in Yu" (under the eaves), "Nine "Month is in the household" (in the room), "October crickets, come under my bed." It is so precious to record animal phenology in detail and to arrange life and production activities based on this!

"Xia Xiaozheng", which was written around the same time as the book, is the earliest phenological calendar to guide agricultural production in my country. It is formulated based on the ecological knowledge of animals and plants and combined with astronomical phenomena.It records the phenological knowledge accumulated since the Xia Dynasty. The phenological plants recorded in it include willow, plum, apricot, pansy (jin only) vegetable, reed, foxtail, chestnut, and chrysanthemum, etc., and the first flowering period is mainly used as the phenology. A sign of coming; 33 species of animals that play a role in phenology are recorded, including wild geese, fish, voles, swallows, frogs, cicadas, deer, and mayflies.The records are very detailed and scientific, and it is a very valuable phenology calendar.

To sum up, we can be sure that before the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, our ancestors had accumulated a wealth of knowledge about animals and plants, laying a good foundation for the further development of biology.Of course, this biological knowledge is still scattered, and the real systematic and in-depth investigation and research on the world of animals and plants began after the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.