Cover news reporter Liu Kexin
【Preface】
When the sun is shining, it is full of vitality. "Remember the grass and trees when you are old", pay attention to the grass and trees around you that you are accustomed to. From the perspective of plants, you can not only experience the changes of the four seasons, but also feel the companionship of human beings and nature in just a few thousand years.
Bracts and buds of silver willow (figure network)
The north wind blows in the winter. People crane their necks to avoid the cold, and the plants in nature are cold enough to put away various colors, only plum blossoms are still insisting on writing their own "winter inspirational stories". Wax plums, white plums, red plums, green plums... Plum blossoms single-handedly add a lot of color to winter days. There is also a plant, although it is a plain color, but it has been artificially given color, after breaking the "winter gray", the deep hidden work and the name of the land left, but people did not even remember its name.
"Plum blossoms have a lot of money?" "Twenty." After the customer finishes paying, he takes a handful of "plum blossoms" from the vendor who bears the burden, turns around and leaves. It is strange to say that this "plum blossom" has any color, red, yellow, purple, green, blue, and even several colors can emerge from a branch. Buy one and put it in a vase and keep it until the summer. But don't get me wrong, this is not a plum blossom, nor is it a fake flower, but a plant in the willow genus, called silver willow.
This willow is not a willow. "Five-nine-six-nine, look at the willows along the river." At the threat of falling spring cold, the willow buds on the weeping willows have popped out of their heads, and in the distance, a hazy patch of green, deliberately walked in to see, but it is not so real. In the "gray" of the city, this "green" is particularly fresh, with a pioneer posture against the cold winter material steep, declaring the arrival of spring.
Flowering Silver Willow (Image network)
In daily life, most of the willows we call willows refer to this kind of weeping willow that "clings to the ground". In flora of China, the Willow family is divided into three genera: Poplar, Willow, and Willow. The poplars, mountain poplars, and Chinese poplars that we are familiar with are all classified in the genus Poplar, and the genus of Willow, including weeping willow, is as many as 255 species. Therefore, "willow" in the literary sense and "willow" in the botanical sense are completely different. Among the more than two hundred species of willow plants, they are not all "clinging to the ground" form. Silver willow is one of the plants in the genus Willow.
The flowers of silver willow bloom before the leaves. What we see are the dyed silver willow buds. The original silver willow presents a cold silver gray, which is incomparable to the "hilarious" effect of its dyeing. Before the buds are exposed, they are also wrapped in a layer of purple-red bracts. After the bracts are cracked and peeled off, the hairy, silvery-white buds protrude from the inside and are distributed on the branches, so the silver willow is also called "silver bud willow".
Many people have not seen the flowers of silver willow, and they think that the buds that resemble the tip of the brush are what they look like after flowering, but they are not. The flowers of the silver willow resemble caterpillars and the tails of puppies, so silver willows are also called "hairy dogs" or cotton willows. The original silver-white flower buds were dyed with various colors by the flower farmers, which became small lanterns that lit up on the branches. The "silver" of "silver willow" means wealth, and "willow" is harmonic "stay", because the meaning of "wangcai" of "silver willow at home, crossing over the more there is" makes the red silver willow particularly popular during the Spring Festival, so it is also known as "New Year's Eve Flower".
Silver willow dyed red (image network)
Silver willows, which seem to be only decorative, are actually large shrubs, whose trees can grow up to 4 to 5 meters, mostly growing on the edges of mountain spruce forests or in forest clearings. According to the Flora of China, silver willow generally grows in Xinjiang on the mainland and is also distributed in Russia. Silver willow is good for survival and high ornamental value, and is now cultivated everywhere. In the 1980s, Songjiang Silver Willow, together with Jiading Wax Plum and Chongming Daffodil, was known as the "Three Treasures of Shanghai". At that time, silver willow had already demonstrated its economic value and was exported to Southeast Asia in large quantities. But later, due to regional competition, the once-beautiful Songjiang silver willow gradually disappeared from the planting base in Shanghai. According to media reports, in 2013, the Songjiang Silver Willow, which has long been difficult to find, was re-introduced back to Shanghai, which is lamentable.
Sichuan people also love to buy silver willows during the Spring Festival, adding some lively atmosphere to the home. These silver willows are all from the local area. In Chengdu, Mianyang and other places, there are many flower farmers who grow silver willows. In addition to the local market demand, the silver willow grown in Sichuan is sold as far as the whole country and even overseas. In March 2020, as the first batch of flower products exported through the China-Europe express train during the epidemic period, containers loaded with silver willows departed from Wenjiang District of Chengdu to the Netherlands. It seems that this furry charm, no one can resist.