Fancun jupu 范村菊譜

Fancun jupu 范村菊譜, or Jupu 菊譜 for short, alternatively called Shihu jupu 石湖菊譜, is a book on chrysanthemums written during the Song period 宋 (960-1279) by Fan Chengda 范成大 (1126-1193), courtesy name Zhineng 致能 or Youyuan 幼元, style Cishan Jushi 此山居士 or Shihu Jushi 石湖居士, from Wuxian 吳縣 (Suzhou 蘇州, Jiangsu). Fan also wrote the local geography Guihai yuheng zhi 桂海虞衡志, the local gazetteer Wujun zhi 吳郡志, and three travelogues, Canluanlu 驂鸞錄, Lanpeilu 攬轡錄, and Wuchuanlu 吳船錄. Fan also wrote a book about plums, Fancun meipu 范村梅譜. In a joint version, these two books on gardening are called Fancun mei-jupu 范村梅菊譜.

There are two other books with the title of Jupu, one by Liu Meng 劉蒙 (fl. 1104) and one by Shi Zhengzhi 史正志 (jinshi degree 1151), so it is important to add the augment Fancun 范村 "from the village of the Fan family" in order to avoid confusion.

Fan Chengda's Jupu was finished in 1174 or 1186 and mainly describes the flowers that the author grew in his own garden. The book begins with the statement that chrysanthemums were the purest flowers that could be used as medicine so chrysanthemums were highly estimated through all ages. There are more than 70 kinds of chrysanthemum flowers described in the book of which Fan Chengda himself grew 36 kinds. He presents a list of these different kinds, in sequential order of the flower's rated quality, beginning with the yellow kinds, proceeding to the white, and ending with coloured types (red, purple, etc.). Among the yellow kinds, the type tengjinhuang 勝金黃 was rated the best; among the white ones, the species wuyueju 五月菊, and among the coloured types, the kind fodingju 佛頂菊. For all these kinds of chrysanthemums, Fan Chengda provided an exact description of their appearance. The book ends with an historical overview of chrysanthemum cultivation and their use as medicine.

The Fancun jupu is included in the series Baichuan xuehai 百川學海, Shuofu 說郛, Siku quanshu 四庫全書, Qunfang qingwan 羣芳清玩, Biyu conglu 筆餘叢錄, Guoxue zhenben wenku 國學珍本文庫, Xiangyan congshu 香艷叢書 and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編.