Information about lotus flowers

Alias: Lotus, Lotus, Shuizhi, Yunshui, Shui Mu, Zezhi, Huashui, Hanhan, Shuidancao, Furong, Yuhuan, June Spring, China Lotus, June Flower God, Lotus Lotus, Cao Ling, Yuzhi, Ling Boxian, Shuigongxian, Junzihua, etc.

Lotus is a perennial aquatic plant. Rootstock (lotus root) is thick and knobby, born in sediment. The leaves are shield-shaped, round, dark green on the surface, gray-green with waxy white powder on the back, and undulate all over. Petiole cylindrical, densely barbed.

Flowers are solitary at the top of pedicels and above the water surface, with single petals, compound petals, double petals and double petals. Colors are white, pink, crimson, lavender or intermediate colors; Stamens are numerous; The pistil is free and buried in an inverted conical sponge receptacle. There are many scattered honeycomb holes on the receptacle surface, which gradually expand after fertilization, and a small nut (lotus seed) is born in each hole.

The flowering period is from June to September, and it opens and closes every morning. The fruit ripening period is September-65438+1October. There are many cultivated varieties of lotus, which can be divided into three systems according to different uses: lotus root, lotus seed and Hualien.

Extended data:

The origin of lotus

Lotus is called "living fossil" and is one of the earliest plants in angiosperms.

Before humans appeared, about 104500 years ago, most of the earth was covered by oceans, lakes and swamps. At that time, the climate was bad, disasters were frequent, there were no animals, most plants were eliminated, and only a few wild plants with strong vitality grew on this barren land.

Among them, there is an aquatic plant that we call "Lotus" today, which has withstood the test of nature and stubbornly survived in amur river (now Heilongjiang), the Yellow River, the Yangtze River basin and the swamp lakes in the northern hemisphere.

About 9,000 years later, primitive humans began to appear. In order to survive, human beings collect wild fruits to satisfy their hunger, and soon find that the wild fruits and root nodes of this "lotus" (namely lotus seeds and lotus roots) are not only edible, but also sweet and delicious. Gradually, "Lotus", a food source for human survival, was deeply imprinted in the hearts of our ancestors, primitive humans, and became a symbol of human survival.

China Net-Hunan Flower: Lotus