One name is synonymous with botany in China: Cai xitao.  Cai worked tirelessly to unveil the mysteries of the “plant kingdom—Yunnan,” while developing significant economic plants that helped pull China through financial straits.  He contributed his entire life to the well-being of all peoples through botany research.
在中国植物学界有这样一个人：他，率先揭开了植物王国云南植被的面纱；他，从资源植物的角度为建国初期渡过经济难关作出了杰出贡献；他，用他一生的科学研究在为人们谋福利……让我们铭记住他的名字：蔡希陶！

Mr. Cai was born in 1911, in Zhengjiang province. At 19 years old, he began his botany career at the
Peiping (now Beijing) Jingsheng Biology Institute.
蔡希陶1911 年生于浙江东阳，1930 年进入北平静生生物调查所，从此开始了长达半个多世纪的植物学研究。

Cai xitao

 On a chilly morning in 1932, Cai and two young men set out from Beijing on a plant investigation trip through Southwest China. The party suffered the ravages of riptides, blizzards, malaria, and bandits.  Although his partners gave up and abandoned the mission, Cai kept his courage and finished the journey to Yunnan alone. During 3 years of field work in Yunnan, Cai's collected over 12,000 plant specimens before returning to Beijing, effectively ending our ignorance of Yunnan’s diverse vegetation.
1932年，一个寒气袭人的早晨，蔡希陶和两名青年一起向西南出发调查。在两名青年忍受不了途中的艰险而半途溜走时，蔡希陶孤身一人面对激流、雪山、瘴气、匪盗和茫茫林海，历经艰辛最后到达云南。他在云南历时三年采集植物标本上万号，这意味着我们结束了对神秘云南的一无所知，而他也从此和植物学及云南这块红土地建立了终生不渝的感情。

         Cai transplanted dragon blood tree (Dracaena draco L.)

In 1937，with the onset of the Chinese Independence War, Cai fled with his family back to the safety of Yunnan again where he continued his devotion to botany research, working out of a makeshift lab established in an old temple.
抗日战争爆发后，蔡希陶再次踏上云南这块红土地，他将昆明北郊黑龙潭的一幢庙宇作为工作站，并和前来逃难的一批批科学家们一起在简单实验室研究植物。

The next year, Cai set up the Yunnan Agro-forest Plant Institute in HeiLongTan, Kunming, which would later become the Kunming Institute of Botany. He worked tirelessly for the survival of the institute, developing a farm, managing a flower and bird shop, and collecting camellia for trade with American institutes. All the while, Cai never relaxed his dedication to his botany research, continually exploring Yunnan, collecting thousands of plant specimens. Eventually, he saved US$900 and purchase 6.67 hectares, providing the institute with a permanent home.
1938 年，蔡希陶创办了云南农林植物研究所，今昆明植物所的前身。然而，在战乱的岁月，研究机构的生存何其容易？为了研究所的生存，他绞尽脑汁，带领同僚开办过农场，开花鸟店，收集茶花与美国的科研机构交易。最后用900 美元，将研究所扩大了100 亩。同时，他不懈的继续着他的研究，由采集了上万号标本。

Rubber forest (Hevea brasiliensis )

During the latter decade, Cai introduced and transplanted the precious tobacco species "Mammoth Gold," from the United States. At the same time, Cai discovered that Honghe and the Mekong river area were suitable for growing rubber trees. Today, the tobacco and rubber industries are two of the most important economic industries in Yunnan and have contributed significantly to China’s development.
在稍后的十年，蔡希陶对植物资源学的研究为新中国的经济发展作出了杰出的科学贡献。他从美国引进名贵烤烟品种“大金元”并改良，同时，为打破外国对我国进口橡胶的封锁，50年代初在版纳开拓出适宜橡胶生长的宜林地。如今，烟草和橡胶已成为云南经济的两大支柱产业。  

             Palm tree garden of XTBG  

However, despite the economic success of his work, Cai the scientist always dreamed of building a natural greenhouse from which to base the study of tropical plants in China. On 1st, January, 1959, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) was established under his supervision. Today, XTBG has grown to integrate a botanical garden for scientific research with plant conservation, public education, and tourism.
然而，建造一个植物天然大温室是年近五十的蔡希陶一生梦寐以求的绿色之梦。1959 年元旦，在蔡希陶的努力下，我国第一个热带植物研究基地－版纳植物园(XTBG) 在葫芦到上宣告成立。岁月流逝，沧桑巨变，昔日荒凉的葫芦岛已是繁花似锦而集科研、物种保存、教育和旅游一体的综合机构。今天，我们更是有幸作为本次展览的主办方携手全世界植物园为提高人类理解环保尽微薄之力。

Cai cared more for his land and his people than for himself. As a scientist he worked to link people and society s development with the environment. His scientific discoveries are not only written on paper, but are also recorded on the land. His commitment to botanic research lives on at XTBG where we continue to search for ways that we can improve the quality of life for humans and the natural community through research and education.
蔡老的论文不是写在纸上，而是写在祖国大地上。作为一个真正的科学家，他不是学究，他从事的科学事业总是和祖国、和人民的命运息息相关。虽然他已经离我们远去，但XTBG 仍然继续着他的脚步，用我们的研究和教育去提高人类的生活，去保护我们残存的自然环境。

 Fast facts from XTBG 快讯
-We are the biggest botanic garden (1,100 hectares) with the most abundant living plant(10,000 plant species) in China
 版纳植物园为中国面积最大的（1100公顷），保存物种最丰富（10000种植物）的植物园

-Fantastic plants and phenomena found in XTBG植物园的奇妙现象和植物

Clock flower 时钟花(Turnera ulmifolia)                  Dancing herb 跳舞草(Codariocalyx motorius)                          Canriflover 老茎生花