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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.

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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.

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 leaves clear summer heat and promote diuresis, promote hair growth and 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. ?

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Lotus waterscape

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 area of aquatic flowers 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.

Waterscape plants are the theme in landscape gardens: As the saying goes, "A garden without mountains is not strong, and a mountain without water is not beautiful". It is very common to decorate waterscape with lotus flowers in China gardens. 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.

To be a summer flower that blooms 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.

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.

As a "filter" of industrial wastewater, the underground stem of lotus root can absorb the products of aerobic microorganisms decomposing pollutants in water, so lotus root can help the polluted water to restore the food chain structure and promote the water ecosystem to gradually realize a virtuous cycle.

Potted bonsai

Lotus has a strong adaptability to the growing environment. It can not only spit red and wave green in lakes and ponds, but also be elegant and decorate the world in small pots and bowls. In the history of Dutch culture in China, the form of potted lotus was originally used for private courtyard viewing. Nowadays, potted lotus is widely used in gardens all over China. The combination of potted plants and pond planting improves the ornamental value of potted lotus, which often appears in garden waterscape and garden sketches. Lotus waterstone bonsai is a new kind of bonsai in Hangzhou. It is an organic combination of lotus potted plants and water stone potted plants, which not only reflects the firmness and straightness of rocks, but also shows the delicate and charming lotus flowers. Lotus bonsai can choose coral stone, sand stone, axe stone, English stone and other rocks as materials. [ 15]?

the art of inserting flowers

Chinese flower arrangement began in the Six Dynasties and originated from offering flowers before the Buddha. As the sacred flower of Buddhism, it can be said that arranging flowers facilitates the lotus to form an indissoluble bond when it rises. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, offering flowers was still the main form of flower arrangement. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the art of flower arrangement developed greatly. At this time, the depth and skill of lotus flower arrangement rose to a new height, which can be called the heyday of ancient flower arrangement art in China. With the further study of lotus flower arrangement, not only materials such as lotus, lotus leaf, lotus root and lotus fruit are widely used in flower arrangement, but also the ornamental effects of these materials are scientifically compared. It is generally appropriate to choose small and medium-sized varieties for lotus flower arrangement, and it is also appropriate to match branches, leaves and fruits of other plants, so as to strive for bright colors and bright composition, and the ornamental effect can last for 3-4 days.