In the middle, you can write a brief introduction of the lotus, or what happened between yourself and the lotus. If you don't know enough about what happened or about Lotus, you can add a brief introduction to him.
The ending mainly shows the characteristics of Lotus and its love for him.
The following information is available to you;
Lotus (scientific name: lotus. ), also known as lotus and hibiscus, belongs to Nymphaeaceae and is a perennial aquatic herb flower. Underground stems are long and thick, with long nodes and round leaves. Flowering from June to September, it is solitary at the top of the pedicel. There are many petals embedded in the receptacle hole, which are red, pink, white and purple, or have colored lines and edges. Nuts are oval and seeds are oval.
There are many kinds of lotus flowers, which are divided into ornamental and edible categories. China is native to tropical and temperate Asia and was planted as early as the Zhou Dynasty. Lotus is precious all over the body, lotus root and lotus seed are edible, and the germ of lotus seed, rhizome, lotus node, lotus leaf, flower and seed can be used as medicine. Its character of emerging from the mud without staining has always been praised by the world. "The next day, the lotus leaves are infinitely colorful, and the lotus flowers reflect different colors in the sun" is a true portrayal of the beauty of lotus flowers. The noble character of lotus flower "straight through the outside, not crawling, not stained with mud, clear but not demon" has always been one of the themes of poets' painting.
1985 in may, lotus was rated as one of the top ten flowers in China. Lotus is the national flower of India, Thailand and Vietnam.
Lotus is a perennial aquatic herb; Rhizomes are transverse, hypertrophy, swollen internodes, with many longitudinal airways inside, constricted internodes, black scales at the top and hairy adventitious roots at the bottom.
The leaves are round and shield-shaped, with a diameter of 25-90 cm. The surface is dark green, covered with wax white powder, the back is gray-green, the whole edge is slightly wavy, the upper surface is smooth and white powder, and the lower vein is ejected from the center, with 1-2 branches. Petiole is stout, cylindrical, 1-2 meters long, hollow, with scattered thorns outside. Pedicels and petioles are the same length or slightly longer, and there are also scattered spines; Petiole cylindrical, densely barbed.
The flower is solitary at the top of the pedicel, above the water surface, with a diameter of 10-20 cm, beautiful and fragrant; There are single petal, compound petal, double petal and double terrace patterns; Colors are white, pink, crimson, lavender, yellow or intermediate colors; Lotus leaves are oblong-ovoid to obovate, 5- 10 cm long and 3-5 cm wide, gradually decreasing from outside to inside, sometimes becoming stamens, with blunt or slightly pointed apex and many stamens; The pistil is free and buried in the inverted cone sponge receptacle, and there are many scattered honeycomb holes on the receptacle surface. After fertilization, it gradually expands, called lotus, and a small nut (lotus seed) is born in each hole. Anthers are long, filaments are slender and inserted under receptacle; The style is very short, and the top of the column is born; The receptacle (lotus house) is 5- 10 cm in diameter.
Lotus is an aquatic plant, which likes relatively stable and calm shallow water, lakes, swamps and ponds, and is its suitable habitat. The water demand of lotus depends on its variety. The relative water level of large plant-shaped varieties such as Gulian and Chiba is deep, but it cannot exceed 1.7 meters. Small and medium-sized plant varieties are only suitable for water depth of 20-60 cm. Meanwhile, lotus is very sensitive to water loss. As long as you don't irrigate for three hours in summer, the lotus leaves planted in the water tank will be sluggish. If the water is stopped for one day, the lotus leaves will be burnt and the buds will wither. Lotus is also very fond of light, and it needs a full light environment during its growing period. Lotus is extremely intolerant of shade, so it will show strong phototaxis when it grows in semi-shade. [2]
Lotus is generally distributed in subtropical and temperate regions such as Central Asia, West Asia, North America, Indian, China and Japanese. Lotus starts from Hainan Island in the south of China (about 19 degrees north latitude), reaches Fujin City in Heilongjiang Province in the north (47.3 degrees north latitude), borders Shanghai and Taiwan Province Province in the east, and reaches the northern foot of Tianshan Mountain in the west. Except Xizang Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province, it is distributed in most parts of the country. Vertical distribution can reach 2000 meters above sea level, and it can also be seen in the deep mountains and deep ponds of Qinling Mountains and Shennongjia. [3]
China has a cultivation history of more than 3,000 years, and carbonized ancient lotus seeds have been found in Liaoning, Zhejiang and other places, which shows its long history. Taiwan Province Province was introduced from Japan only 100 years ago. In Baihe Town and Chiayi District of Tainan, the cultivated area has reached nearly 350 hectares, making it one of the most important tourist areas in Taiwan Province Province. There are still wild lotus flowers in some remote places in Asia, but most of them are planted artificially. [2]
Seed propagation
First, break the shell. In May and June, the concave ends of the seeds are ground on the cement floor or rough stones, and the seeds are soaked to raise seedlings. Keep the water clear, change the water frequently, germinate in a week or so, take root and transplant two weeks later, one plant in each pot. The water layer should be shallow and the lotus leaves should not be submerged in the water. About 90% can blossom that year, but there are not many flowers that year. [6]
Split lotus propagation
Mid-March to mid-April is the best time to turn over the lotus root. Premature planting will be affected by cold current, and lotus roots are easy to freeze. The northern region can be covered with transparent agricultural film in case of cold current. The soil should be mushy before planting. When planting, the top end of lotus root is inserted into the mud at an angle of 20 degrees along the basin edge, and the depth of bowl lotus is about 5 cm. Da Lian is about 10 cm deep, with low head and high tail. The tail is half cocked to prevent the tail of the lotus root from entering the water. After planting, put the flowerpot in the sun to make the surface soil slightly crack, so as to facilitate the complete adhesion of lotus root and soil, then add a small amount of water, gradually deepen the water level after the buds grow, and finally maintain a water layer of 3-5 cm. In the early stage of pond planting, the water layer is the same as that of potted flowers, and the lotus leaves are not submerged in the later stage. [6]
Space breeding
In July, 1994, 442 seeds from Guangchang An Baili were carried on the recoverable satellite 940703 in cooperation with Institute of Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. They stayed in space for 355 hours and 35 minutes, and successfully returned to Earth after 238 laps. After screening and cultivation, many varieties such as space lotus 1, 2, 3 and 36 were formed. In 2002 and 2006, Guangchang Anbaili went into space by Shenzhou IV spacecraft and Shi Jian 8 breeding satellite. Among them, the single canopy of Space Lotus 36 can bear about 22 seeds, and 100 seeds can weigh about 100 grams, so it is known as the best lotus seed variety. The cultivation of space lotus has to go through "three levels";
1. Radiation removal: Lotus seeds in space are carried into space by recyclable spacecraft. In the environment of strong radiation, microgravity, high vacuum and weak geomagnetic field, most seeds will die, and only a few seeds can survive. Only the surviving seeds can become space lotus after genetic changes.
2. Screening: Because the genetic mutation of plant seeds in space is non-directional, it may be good or bad. After returning to the earth, according to the breeding objectives and flowering conditions, the excellent qualities such as large flowers, bright colors, beautiful shapes and long flowering periods were retained, thus producing an alternative space lotus.
Third, stability: after several years of repeated screening, excellent tissues are continuously selected from each generation of lotus for culture, and strains with unstable genes are eliminated. Finally, the lotus with excellent genes and stable heredity can be determined as a new variety. [7]
Edible
In ancient China, there was a tradition of sending plums in spring and picking lotus in autumn. Since ancient times, Chinese people have regarded lotus seeds as precious food, and they are still high-grade nourishing nutrition. Many places specialize in producing lotus seeds. Lotus root is the best vegetable and preserved fruit. Lotus leaves, lotus flowers and lotus plums are also popular medicated diets in China. It can be seen that the diet culture of lotus is rich and colorful. Traditional lotus seed porridge, preserved lotus seed, lotus seed powder, lotus root slices with meat, steamed lotus leaf meat, lotus leaf porridge, etc. Leaves are substitutes for tea and are also used as packaging materials.
The underground stem of lotus grows in the soil and will be infected by toxic substances. Because the extremely fine epidermis tissue and tannin-containing lower epidermis of lotus root have certain barrier or absorption ability to toxic substances, most toxic substances adhere to or penetrate into the epidermis. Peel the lotus root when eating to prevent toxic substances from being eaten in the stomach. [9]
Medicinal value
According to Compendium of Materia Medica, lotus, lotus seed, lotus coat, lotus room, lotus whisker, lotus plumule, lotus leaf, lotus stalk and lotus node can all be used as medicine. Lotus can promote blood circulation and stop bleeding, remove dampness and dispel wind, clear heart and cool blood, and relieve fever and detoxify. Lotus seeds can nourish the heart, kidney, spleen and intestine. Lotus beard can clear the heart and benefit the kidney, astringe essence and stop bleeding, relieve summer heat, relieve annoyance, promote fluid production and quench thirst. Lotus leaf can clear away heat, relieve summer heat, promote diuresis, strengthen yang, stop bleeding and lose weight. Among them, the ingredients of Lotus Leaf Zhen have miraculous effects on clearing stomach, reducing fat and removing blood stasis. Lotus root can recharge your batteries, stop bleeding and remove blood stasis, and clear away heat and toxic materials. Lotus root can clear away heat and relieve summer heat, benefit water, purge fire and clear heart. [ 10]
These traditional Chinese medicines come from the same plant, but different parts have different functions: lotus root knot stops bleeding and removes blood stasis; Lotus leaf can clear summer heat, promote diuresis, promote hair growth, clear yang and stop bleeding; Lotus stems clear away heat and relieve summer heat; Lotus leaf pedicle can clear away heat and relieve summer heat, eliminate dampness, prevent miscarriage and enrich blood; Lotus promotes blood circulation to stop bleeding, dispel dampness and dispel wind; Lotus room can remove blood stasis, stop bleeding and remove dampness; Lotus root must clear heart and benefit kidney, astringent essence and stop bleeding; Lotus seeds nourish the heart, kidney, spleen and intestine, and Hunan's "Xiang Lotus Seeds" is the most famous. Lotus coat can converge, and ginseng supplements spleen yin; Lotus plumule has the functions of clearing heart fire, clearing heat, stopping bleeding and astringent essence. Because there are many varieties of lotus, the efficacy of different varieties and different parts may be slightly different. [9]
Ornamental value
Lotus waterscape
1. Lotus Garden. There are three kinds of lotus gardens in China: one is the garden botanical garden in Moshan, East Lake, Wuhan, which opens up a large aquatic flower area for viewing and studying lotus flowers; Second, Nanjing Mochou Lake, Hangzhou new "Qu Yuan Feng He" and other large parks, mainly for lotus viewing; The other is the lotus folk tourism resource scenic spot which is mainly based on wild interest and combined with tourism, such as the Lotus World in Sanshui, Guangdong, and the Tuanhu Scenic Spot in Yueyang, Hunan. [ 1 1]
2. The theme of landscape garden is waterscape plants: As the saying goes, "A garden without mountains is not strong, and a mountain without water is not beautiful". In China gardens, it is very common to decorate water features with lotus flowers. There are many famous gardens in Jiangnan, and there are terraces to enjoy the lotus. There is a "lianhua bridge" on the bank of the Slender West Lake in Yangzhou. The jade pavilions on the bridge are patchwork, simple and elegant in shape, exquisite and unique, which set each other off with the lotus flowers in the lake. It is the best place in Slender West Lake. Lotus Square in Jinxiyuan, Yueyang is built by the water, connected with the winding fence, fragrant cattails and enjoying lotus in the rain, which is deeply loved by the masses. [ 1 1]
Third, do a good job of summer flowers that can be enjoyed in four seasons: different landscapes in four seasons are the gardening rules that China gardeners abide by. Plum blossoms resist winter, willows welcome spring, green lotus relieves summer heat, and tung leaves surprise autumn. The green viewing period of lotus is as long as 8 months, and the flowering period is about 2-3 months. In summer and autumn, there are few cicadas, peaches and plums are silent, and the graceful lotus flowers exude a refreshing fragrance in a clear water, which makes people feel relaxed and happy. [ 1 1]
4. Foreground, middle scene and main scene in multi-level arrangement: China gardens pay great attention to the change of levels when arranging plants, so as to form rich landscapes with different heights. The combination of willow and lotus is a typical technique. Liu E summed up Daming Lake in Jinan with "lotus flowers on all sides and willows on three sides, and a city with mountains and lakes on half sides". Yuhu Park in Xiangtan, Hunan Province, with catkins flying in the spring and small rivers pointed; In summer and autumn, the flowers and leaves are graceful and the willows are green; In winter, the snow is covered with willow silk, and the residual lotus is audible, which is a beautiful scenic spot. [ 1 1]
5. As a "filter" for polluted water by industrial wastes, the underground stems of lotus root can absorb the products of pollutants decomposed by aerobic microorganisms in water, and lotus root can help the polluted water to restore the food chain structure and promote the water ecosystem to gradually realize a virtuous cycle. [ 1 1]