Reading Warming upWarming up How much do you know about plants? DISCUSSION:Did you know that:1. some plants do not have flowers?2. some plants have roots that live in the air?3. some plants eat meat?4. some plants need animals to pollinate them? 5. some plants grow on other plants?6. plants are adapted to live in specific environments?7. people buy plants that come from other countries for their gardens?8. a new plant does not always grow from a seed? Special plants Pre-reading Do you have a courtyard or some pot plants on your balcony? Do you know where these plants come from?Are they Chinese plants or do they come from another country? When you last visited a public garden, did you look at the individual plants there? Were there any plants from other countries? How do you think plants have traveled from one country to another? Joseph Banks Dr Nathaniel Ward The Wardian case Robert Fortune (1812-1880) represented the Horticultural Society of London (now the Royal Horticultural Society) as a collector in China shortly after the Treaty of Nanjing had brought the Opium War to a close. Through his use of the Wardian case, Fortune was able to introduce many of the best-known Chinese garden plants into cultivation in Europe and North America. Père Paul Guillaume Farges (1844 - 1912) French missionary and naturalist. Born at Monclar-de-Quercy, Tarn-et-Garonne. He was sent to China in 1867 and remained stationed in north-east Sichuan until 1903. Although he had always nurtured an interest in the local flora and fauna, it was not until 1892 that he started to collect herbarium specimens in earnest. During the eleven years before he moved south to Chongqing, he collected and preserved over 4,0...
