Longmen Grottoes
The first monograph on chrysanthemums was published in 1104 AD. Liu Meng (), the author of a "Chrysanthemum Treatise" (), classifies the chrysanthemums according to their colors: the normal ones are yellow, then come the whites, the purples and finally the reds. It lists a total of 35 cultivated varieties that could be observed in the gardens near the Buddhist shrines of Longmen Grottoes. In the 16th century, the famous physician and herbalist Li Shizhen in his "Great Treaty of Medical Matter", reports a hundred cultivars. He attributes to them some medicinal properties such as "eliminating heat and toxins", "improving visual acuity" and so on. In 1630, a survey of over 500 cultivars 17 and about 2000 at the beginning of 20th century.