[2] He accompanied Lord Amherst on his mission to China in 1816-17 as the embassy's chief medical officer and naturalist, on the recommendation of Sir Joseph Banks.

The mission was Britain's second unsuccessful attempt to establish diplomatic relations with China and involved travelling to the Beijing and the famous botanical gardens of Fa Tee (Huadi) near Canton (Fangcun District).

While in China, Abel collected specimens and seeds of the plant that carries his name, Abelia chinensis, described by Banks' botanical secretary Robert Brown, "with friendly partiality".

Abel's Narrative of a Journey in the Interior of China, 1818,[3] gives a detailed account of the collection's misfortunes.

In 1919, botanist Takenoshin Nakai published Abeliophyllum, which is a genus of shrubs from Korea, in the olive family, Oleaceae.