Brilliant purple milkvetch

After getting up on March 15, 2022, the weather was fine. My wife suggested going to Qingshitan Reservoir (Ping Gong Township) in Lingchuan County to enjoy purple milkvetch (red flowers), and drove from Guilin city at 10 o'clock. It took 2 hours to arrive at Longjia, Huangcun County, Lingchuan County, on the shore of the Qingshitan Reservoir. When we got off the car, we looked up and saw that the rapeseed flowers on the shore of the Qingshitan Reservoir or on the sandbanks in the water looked golden under the noon sun. , the reflection of rapeseed flowers on the accumulated sandbanks in the water is like an orange flower boat walking on the water, as if you have arrived in the water country, the whole scene is still quite spectacular. We walked down to the water bank and followed the waterside path through the rapeseed flowers for about one kilometer to the place where the milkvetch was in full bloom by the reservoir. We were stunned by the scenery in front of us. The small milkvetch trees were connected together. It turned into a spectacular watercolor painting. Under the sunshine at noon, dots of red, purple and purple were scattered on the exposed bank of the reservoir to form a large area. It complemented the water and the layers of mountains to form a beautiful picture. I remember when I was a child, I often saw lush red flowers growing in the farmland every spring at the entrance of my hometown village. At that time, red flowers were planted as base fertilizer for farmland. During winter sowing, when spring warmed and the flowers bloomed, oxen were used to plow the fields and bury the red flowers into the fields as base fertilizer. It provides rich nutrients for the growth of rice seedlings and makes sacrifices to ensure a bumper harvest. There is a poem that describes and praises the beauty and sacrifice of milkvetch (red flower grass) very well. Northern Guangxi is prosperous in early spring, with green fields and red clouds and veils. Her elegance attracts morning dew, and her charming face looks forward to the sunset. She is born with cold and beautiful sapphire, and has a gentle temperament with purple flowers. When the body withers and dies, the fertile fields will benefit the world and hundreds of farmers will praise them.

Wheat vetch (scientific name: Astragalus sinicus L.) is a biennial herbaceous plant of the Leguminosae family. It is prostrate and multi-branched, up to 30 cm in height, with odd-numbered pinnate compound leaves, and the petiole is shorter than the rachis. . The stipules are free, the leaflets are obovate or elliptical, the apex is obtuse or slightly concave, the base is wide and wedge-shaped, the upper part is nearly hairless, the lower part is scattered with white pubescence, the inflorescence is raceme, with flowers in the shape of an umbrella; the total pedicel is axillary, and the bracts are triangular. Oval, short pedicel; calyx bell-shaped, calyx teeth lanceolate, corolla purple-red or orange-yellow, flag petals obovate, petals oblong, pods linear-oblong, seeds kidney-shaped, chestnut brown, 2-6 It blooms in March and bears fruit from March to July.

Distributed in various provinces and regions in the Yangtze River Basin of China. It grows on hillsides, streams and moist places between 400-3000 meters above sea level. It is cultivated throughout China.

This species is often used as an important nectar source plant, green manure, and pasture cultivation; the seeds can be used as medicine, and have the effects of nourishing qi and solidifying essence, benefiting the liver and improving eyesight, clearing away heat and diuresis.

Alias: Qiaoyao, Honghuacao, Caozi, etc.

Chinese name: Chinese milk vetch