Azalea 杜鵑花

Often appearing in old Chinese poems and stories, azalea, or du juan, is the favorite flower of poet Bai Juyi from the Tang Dynasty. He not only praised the flowers in his poems, but tried to grow azaleas.

"Once grown on hills, now blooming in gardens…send a message to God and let azalea be the king of flowers," Bai wrote in his poem Azalea Twelve Tunes.

In Chinese mytholgy, a melancholy bird named Du Juan bleated day and night until it spat blood, which painted all the flowers on the hill red. The flowers were named after the miserable bird.

The whole plant can be used in traditional Chinese medicine and can help to cure kidney illness and deafness.

杜鵑花經常出現在中國古詩詞中，是唐朝詩人白居易最愛的花。白居易曾把杜鵑比作花中西施，他曾寫道：“本是山頭物，今為砌下芳。千叢相向背，萬朵互低昂。”

中國曾有杜鵑啼血的神話，傳說杜鵑鳥晝夜悲鳴，啼至血出乃止，杜鵑花就是被杜鵑鳥的鮮血染紅的，因此而得名。杜鵑花入藥可治療腎虛耳聾。

點擊這里聽《杜鵑》