Erythrina is native to India and Malaysia, and has been introduced to many places in Fujian since the Tang and Song Dynasties, but Quanzhou is the most widely planted. Poets of past dynasties wrote many poems about Erythrina. I'm afraid this is because of its beauty and unique southern flavor, which is particularly dazzling. Song Puji, a monk, said in the book "Five Lights Meeting Yuan" that Erythrina also has such a rather magical feature: it is rich to sprout first and then bloom every year, otherwise it is rich. So Erythrina is also called "Ruitong". Because of this, there was a little argument in the Song Dynasty! One side of the argument is Ding Wei, who visited Quan Quan repeatedly as an ambassador. He hoped to see the green leaves of Erythrina first and let Quanzhou mature in the new year, so he wrote such a poem:
I heard that everyone in the village said that Erythrina leaves had a bumper harvest.
I'm here to worry about the people. I only love green but not red.
On the other side of the argument, Wang, who came to Quanzhou as a county magistrate, had the same wish, but he didn't believe the prediction that "there were flowers before buds" or "there were flowers before buds". To this end, I wrote a poem:
At first glance, the branches are green and thick, and suddenly the umbrella will burn out.
Flowers bloom first and then ripen every year. People who don't know what to do don't like red.
After the Yuan Dynasty, there were few poems chanting Pittosporum flowers. This is probably because the number of trees is gradually decreasing.
In modern times, there are even fewer such trees. Therefore, when Comrade Guo Moruo came to Quanzhou, he once issued a sigh of "Erythrina Flower Xie Erythrina City"! Mr. Huang Shouqi once left this poem when he recalled the scene of Erythrina blooming everywhere in Quanzhou:
Spring City is full of thorns and flowers. It has a good name and is praised by different generations.
The news came that the citizens of the state worked hard to replant so that Zhu Xia could teach Wan Shushen.
Fortunately, in recent years, some Erythrina trees have been replanted in front of the stone fence of Kaiyuan Temple and beside the Baiyuan Chuanchi near the Overseas Chinese Building. Visitors who care about Quanzhou Erythrina must not forget to go there to see its style!