Field Guide to Common Plants of China: Beijing Volume released, telling the story of Beijing's flowers and mists

Field Guide to Common Plants of China: Beijing Volume (hereinafter referred to as the Beijing Volume) was recently launched in Beijing. The Beijing Volume fills the gap of the lack of a plant field guide for Beijing over the years.

The book's author, Liu Bing, an assistant researcher at the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, held a natural history science event themed "Beijing's 'Flowers' and Mists" at the Hanfenlou Bookstore of The Commercial Press, starting from Beijing's geographical overview and plant distribution, and introducing Beijing's flowers and plants in an accessible way from various aspects such as their names, uses, toxicity and historical origins.

Through his talk, one can understand that knowing plants is not a single process of simply knowing names; it requires human observation and detailed analysis, and it is an interactive process. Through the use of the guide, the systematic understanding of plants can be improved, and ultimately one can identify plants without relying on the book. Although some apps can currently identify some common garden species, they are often stumped when encountering wild plants. Moreover, apps directly give the result, depriving people of the process of thinking and observing, and they cannot compare similar species.

"Plant identification guides are well-founded and can quickly improve our systematic understanding of plants. Ordinary people can become proficient after using them for a period of time. Compared with apps, using a guide emphasizes the process of identifying plants rather than the result, and this is where the joy of knowing nature lies," said Liu Bing.

As Beijing's own plant guide, the Beijing Volume selects 1,221 species in 565 genera and 127 families of common plants in the Beijing area, and can also provide a reference for identifying plants in the field in North China. It will provide useful help to backpackers who love outdoor sports and wildflower viewing, plant taxonomy enthusiasts, and ecology workers who need to conduct quadrat surveys, bring more joy to mass tourism, and guide people to better understand and touch Beijing's natural treasures. The main cover image of the book is Clematis acerifolia, which is unique to Beijing. Together with Boea hygrometrica and Corydalis fangshanensis, it is known as one of Beijing's "Three Wonders of the Cliff Wall" and is highly representative.

As the series editor-in-chief, Ma Keping, director of the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences and vice chairman of the Botanical Society of China, said that in recent years he had always wanted to compile a set of pocket books suitable for plant classification enthusiasts and beginners. Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae and other floras are highly specialized. Although works such as Iconographia Cormophytorum Sinicorum contain a large number of plates, they are still very professional, and these professional books are multi-volume heavy tomes, not suitable for non-professionals. In view of this, we strive to create a professional popular science series. Its professionalism is mainly reflected in the scientific accuracy of the text, content and photos, requiring authors to be professionals and the content to be reviewed and approved by authoritative experts; its popular nature takes into account the acceptance ability of enthusiasts, pays attention to the accessibility of the text, and focuses on "illustrated explanations" with excellent photos.

It is reported that the "Field Guide to Common Plants of China" series has already published seven volumes, five of which have been published by The Commercial Press. There will also be a Hainan Volume, Inner Mongolia Volume, Western Sichuan Volume... Ultimately, the areas covered by these guides will cover the entire land of China and include plants of different groups and different habitats.