苦戀相思斷腸時

谷主在2006年閱讀台灣作者賴麗娟的＜台灣野果觀賞情報＞時，她用上"三月苦戀，四月相思"來形容苦楝和台灣相思兩者的花期。谷主翻尋香港植物名錄，最終找來斷腸草為這兩個句子續上"五月斷腸"的香港版本。當年的文章是谷主滿意的作品 ，隔空回應了台灣作者。自此，谷主一直尋找斷腸草的生境，希望拍攝它的花和果作為樹木谷的記錄。2011年2月終於完成心願。

斷腸草是香港原生植物，籐本，為馬錢科吻屬的植物，花期在十一月，果期在二月，因被稱為香港四大毒草之一，在香港的生境日漸萎縮（人為的）。找到的斷腸草群落在九龍坑山上，谷主每次拍攝它都要花上3-4小時上山落山，對它有深刻印象。

二月情人節過後，三月份，苦楝進入花期，隨著是台灣相思，再來是斷腸草。這段期間是谷主形容的苦戀相思斷腸時，相當淒麗動人。

In 2006, I read a book 「Fruit-watch in Taiwan」, written by Ms. Lai Lijuan. She ingeniously described the flowering seasons of Chinaberry (Melia azedarach) and Taiwan Acacia (Acacia confusa) as 「Bitter Love in March」 and 「Longing in April」. I thumbed through 「Check List of Hong Kong Plants」 and eventually found Graceful Jesamine (Gelsemium elegans) and extended the phrase by adding 「Heartbroken in May – Hong Kong version」. I was actually quite pleased with that article as a response at a distance to Ms. Lai in Taiwan. Since then, I have been looking for the habitat of Graceful Jesamine in a hope to take shots of its flowers and fruits as the record for 「The Vale of Trees」. In February 2011, my dream was finally realized.

Graceful Jesamine (Gelsemium elegans) is a Hong Kong native climber belongs to the Loganiaceae family and Gelsemium genus. It flower in November and fruit in February. As it is known as one of the four poisonous plants in Hong Kong, its habitat is unnaturally forced to shrink by human. The limited community of Graceful Jesamine I found was in Cloudy Hill. It always takes me 3-4 hours to go up and down the hill to do the photo shooting. It』s really a profound experience!

After the Valentine's Day in February, Chinaberry steps in its flowering season; followed by Taiwan Acacia in April and then Graceful Jesamine. These are the moments of 「bitter love」, 「longing」, and 「heartbreaking」. It』s sentimentally touching, isn』t it?

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2010年11月25日

2011年2月23日

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