一花一帝國

Host： We start by going back in time to 1837. Place yourself in South America in what was then called 1）British Guyana. We’re in a boat sailing along the 2）backwaters of one of the world’s largest rivers. As we’re paddling along， we come across these huge flowers growing in the still river basins. The leaves are huge and circular， strong enough to support the weight of a small child in fact.

The original 19th century scientific name for this flower was Victoria Regia， in honour of Queen Victoria， and it became a symbol of the British Empire.

Tatiana Holway （Author of The Flower of Empire）： It’s a vast plant that grows in still river basins in the Amazon， and actually all over South America. The leaves are—it’s a water lily—and the leaves are 5 feet across， at least， sometimes 6， sometimes even 7. And the flower is about 18 inches when it blooms， and it blooms in， first in white and then in shades of pink， darker and darker and darker， and has a beautiful smell of pineapples， very rich.

Host： If we take ourselves back to the mid-19th century， no one in England had seen a flower quite like this. It was discovered by German naturalist Robert Schomburgk， who was on an expedition for the 3）Royal Geographical

Society. And then， a...a picture of it kind of takes off in Victorian England. It wasn’t just taking off. I mean， the whole country went 4）gaga for it.

Holway： They sure did， and it was a matter of just perfect timing； all the conditions coming together for a perfect storm. First of all， in Britain already， flowers were...were a craze. And， at the same time that Britain is expanding its empire and expanding its explorations， it’s also discovering new flowers all the time. And so these are appearing in the press with lots and lots of 5）fanfare， and everybody’s getting excited about the 6）petunia. I mean， there’s nothing more...more amazing than...than this petunia or the 7）begonia. So already the conditions are promising for a flower like this. Add the fact of where it was discovered， Guyana， and then the timing. That’s the key. This was 1837. It was discovered when Victoria was a princess still. And in the six weeks between the time that the news of the discovery left Guyana and arrived in London， Victoria had become Queen. Then they discover it’s a new 8）genus， then they call it Victoria Regia， and there we are， the perfect storm.

Host： Now there’s another beat to this story， which is really interesting. This flower， Victoria Regia， actually prompted the construction of Crystal Palace in London. This is 1851.

Holway： It was all glass.

Host： Yeah.

Holway： It was the largest building ever built. It was 18 acres. It was built for the 9）Great Exhibition of Industry of 1851， and it was temporary. It was taken down after a year， and the design was based on the structure of the leaf of the water lily.

Host： Ex...Explain that. I mean， how do you take a...this kind of thing that grows in nature and it becomes kind of the...the basis for a building？

Holway： Ahh， well， as the architect himself put it， Joseph Paxton， nature was the engineer. That’s a bit of an

10）oversimplification， but he is also the one who brought the lily to bloom for the first time in Britain， and having done so， the lily was getting bigger and bigger under his care， so he built for Victoria Regia a special new Victoria Regia house. And he had a breakthrough in design based on...on the lily leaf， which can support quite a bit of weight...on the water. So， thinking along those lines， he figured out a way to have a roof， a wide 11）horizontal 12）expanse with minimal 13）vertical supports. And that was the big design breakthrough in this lily house， which was quite small. But when it came to the Crystal Palace， it was just many， many， many of those lily houses all joined together.

Host： So you...you see then， you must see， a direct link between the discovery of this flower， the enthusiasm in England for it， and then， kind of， I mean， buildings that have gone up here in the United States， glass buildings， this whole， kind of architectural， kind of， 14）fad， really， that’s been going on since the 50s.

Holway： Absolutely， and...and even before—museums， malls， all those things. They all...they all come from the Crystal Palace in many ways. So， if you follow the line of reasoning that the Crystal Palace arose from the water lily， and that 15）modernity， in a way， arose from the Crystal Palace， then you can kind of say that modernity started in a 16）swamp.

Host： That’s incredible！

主持人：首先，讓我們回到1837年。想象你置身于南美洲當(dāng)時的英屬圭亞那，我們正在世界上最大的河流之一——亞馬遜河的偏僻河段航行。劃著船前行時，我們遇到了生長在這個靜水流域的一些巨型花朵，巨大的葉子呈圓形，承重力很強(qiáng)，實(shí)際上可以承受住一個小孩子的重量。

這種花在19世紀(jì)時的學(xué)名是維多利亞王蓮，表示對維多利亞女王的敬意。它成為了大英帝國的一個象征。

塔提安娜·霍爾維（《帝國之花》作者）：這是生長在亞馬遜河靜水流域的一種大型植物，實(shí)際上它分布在整個南美洲的靜水流域。它的葉子——這是睡蓮的一種——它的葉子直徑最少有五英尺（約1.5米），有時可達(dá)六七英尺，開花時花朵約十八英寸（約0.5米），剛開放時呈白色，之后會變?yōu)榉奂t色，而且顏色越來越深，散發(fā)出濃郁的鳳梨香味。

主持人：在19世紀(jì)中期的時候，英國沒有人見過類似這種王蓮的花卉。德國博物學(xué)者羅伯特·肖姆伯克在為英國皇家地理學(xué)會進(jìn)行的一次探險(xiǎn)中發(fā)現(xiàn)了它。之后，它的一幅圖片在維多利亞時期的英國引起了不小的轟動，不僅僅是引起轟動，我的意思是，整個英國簡直是為它而癡狂。

霍爾維：確實(shí)如此，王蓮掀起如此熱潮是因?yàn)樗》暌粋€完美的時機(jī)，當(dāng)時所有的因素一起作用，刮起了這場“完美風(fēng)暴”。首先，英國人本來就對花卉非常熱衷。其次，英國在擴(kuò)張帝國版圖、擴(kuò)大探索開拓的同時，也一直在發(fā)掘新的花卉品種。媒體對新的品種大肆宣傳，當(dāng)時新發(fā)現(xiàn)的矮牽牛花就讓人們興奮不已。我的意思是，矮牽牛花還有秋海棠在當(dāng)時是最新奇的品種。所以對于像王蓮這樣的花來說，在英國掀起風(fēng)潮的條件已經(jīng)很成熟。再加上它的發(fā)現(xiàn)地點(diǎn)——圭亞那，還有發(fā)現(xiàn)的時間，這個是關(guān)鍵。當(dāng)時是1837年，剛發(fā)現(xiàn)王蓮時維多利亞還是公主，就在發(fā)現(xiàn)王蓮的消息從圭亞那傳到英國的六個星期里，維多利亞已經(jīng)成為了女王。然后，人們發(fā)現(xiàn)這是一個新的類屬，就把它命名為維多利亞王蓮。就這樣，一場“完美風(fēng)暴”刮起來了。

主持人：王蓮的故事還有一個非常有趣的亮點(diǎn)。這種維多利亞王蓮其實(shí)還激發(fā)了倫敦水晶宮的建筑靈感。那是1851年的事情。

霍爾維：整個建筑都是玻璃的。

主持人：沒錯。

霍爾維：它是當(dāng)時史上最大的建筑，占地18英畝（約7.3公頃），用作1851年萬國工業(yè)博覽會的舉辦場館，是一個臨時性的建筑，一年后就拆除了。它是參照王蓮葉子的構(gòu)造設(shè)計(jì)而成的。

主持人：這個需要解釋一下。我的意思是，你怎么把一個……這種生長在自然界的東西變成一種……一座建筑的依據(jù)呢？

霍爾維：啊，呃，就像水晶宮的建筑師約瑟夫·帕克斯頓所說的，自然是最好的工程師。這有點(diǎn)過于簡化了，但他也是第一個成功使王蓮在英國開花的人。王蓮開花后，花朵在他的培育下越長越大，因此他專門為王蓮建了一座新的溫室。他以水上承重力很強(qiáng)的王蓮葉子作為參考，在溫室的設(shè)計(jì)上取得了突破。沿著這個思路，他想出了一種新型的屋頂——以最少的垂直支撐物來撐起一個寬闊的水平面，這就是這座睡蓮溫室在設(shè)計(jì)上的重大突破，溫室很小，但宏偉的水晶宮就是許許多多座這種溫室的結(jié)合體。

主持人：所以你……你看到了，維多利亞王蓮的發(fā)現(xiàn)，它在英國掀起的熱潮，還有，我是說，美國這里的建筑，玻璃建筑，從50年代一直延續(xù)到現(xiàn)在的這種，怎么說呢，這一整輪建筑風(fēng)潮，你想必看出了以上種種之間的直接聯(lián)系。

霍爾維：一點(diǎn)不錯，甚至更早的時候——博物館，購物中心，諸如此類的建筑，它們都……它們在很多方面都借鑒了水晶宮的設(shè)計(jì)。所以，如果你推想一下，水晶宮的構(gòu)思來自王蓮，建筑的現(xiàn)代性在某種意義上始于水晶宮，那么可以說，現(xiàn)代化的建筑風(fēng)格就發(fā)源于一片沼澤。

主持人：真是太神奇了！