At the beginning of the spring wind, everything recovers, and the flowers bloom vigorously, giving birth to a beautiful world of purple and red. On April days, in the world of flowers and flowers in Dujiangyan, the most memorable thing is the rhododendron. Whether it is in the park, the park in the block, or in a garden or balcony, red, purple, white, yellow, blue, all kinds of rhododendrons bloom and weave a cloud of spring colors.
| Photography: He Bo
Rhododendron flowers are dense, rich in flower color, graceful and colorful, with the reputation of "flowers in the West", and is one of the top ten famous flowers in China.
The white innocence of the white, the light elegance of the purple, the red as the morning glow, with the flowing flower posture, it is really "looking back at the peach and plum are colorless, reflecting the hibiscus is not a flower."
Speaking of the special features of Dujiangyan rhododendrons, in addition to the streets and alleys that can be seen everywhere, in the Hongkou Flower Valley in Longchi Town, the lantana azaleas transplanted from Yunnan are greeting tourists with red flowers.
| Photography: Folding ear rabbit, leisurely Shu ke
In fact, Dujiangyan has more than 40 species of wild rhododendrons, which is one of the most abundant types of rhododendrons at the county level. Not far from the Longchi Conservation Station in the reserve, the Vasia Alpine Botanical Garden is a special garden specializing in the ex-situ conservation of rhododendrons. At present, more than 400 species of rhododendrons are introduced and preserved, which is the largest rhododendron garden in Asia.
| Photography: Whimsical, folded ear rabbit
Today, let's walk into the Longxi-Hongkou National Nature Reserve, walk into the Huaxia Alpine Botanical Garden, and admire these alpine "spirits" of Dujiangyan.
| Photo: Guyan boat
Glandular cuckoo
Rhododendron davidii
Altitude: 1500-2800 meters
Flowering period: April-May
Identifying features: Evergreen shrubs or small trees, often growing under forests or in shrublands. The flowers are broad bell-shaped, snow cyan or fuchsia-red. The leaves are often clustered at the top of the branches, with the edges rolled back and the underside pale and hairless.
Distributed only in western Sichuan and northeastern Yunnan, the azaleas were once known as the "Emei mountain rhododendrons", and its plants are taller than the Wenchuan rhododendrons. Similar to the Wenchuan rhododendron, its leaf edges are also slightly curled downwards, a feature known in plant terminology as "reverse curl".
| Photography: Guyan boat, folded ear rabbit
Scaly cuckoo
Rhododendron polylepis
Altitude: 1500-3300 meters
Identifying features: Evergreen shrub, often growing in forests or shrublands. The flowers are broad funnel-shaped, lilac-red or dark purplish-red, and some have pale yellow spots on the inside. There are dense brown scales under the leaves, as well as petioles, twigs, and peduncles.
In addition to the hairs under the leaves, the scaled rhododendron has scales on the surface of many parts of the plant, especially the dense scales under the leaves. Its flowers are 5-lobed, wide funnel-shaped, which differs from the rhododendrons of many bell-shaped flowers.
Wenchuan cuckoo
Wenchuan rhododendron hunnewellianum
Altitude: 1000-2500 meters
Identifying features: Evergreen shrub, often growing in streamside shrubland or under the forest. The flowers are broad bell-shaped, milky white to pink, with purple spots. The leaf edges are slightly rolled downwards, with off-white hairs underneath.
Wenchuan rhododendron, also known as Minjiang rhododendron, is endemic to Sichuan and is distributed in parts of the Minjiang River Basin in Sichuan. Its first specimen was found in Wenchuan.
Beauty cuckoo
Beauty cuckoo Rhododendron calophytum
Altitude: 1360-3200 meters
Identifying features: Evergreen shrubs or small trees, often growing in mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forests or coniferous forests. The flowers are broad bell-shaped, white with roses, dark red dots, and 5-7 lobes. The leaves are 11–30 cm long and pale green underneath, almost glabrous.
The shape of the flower is the primary feature that distinguishes the rhododendrons, some flowers resemble bells, that is, "bell-shaped", and some flowers have larger openings and become "funnel-shaped". Beauty rhododendron is a large rhododendron with 5-7 split bell flowers, which can grow into trees up to 12 meters high, and the leaves are also very large.
Ask the cuckoo
Asking guest Rhododendron ambiguum
Altitude: 2300-3300 meters
Flowering period: May to June
Identifying features: Evergreen shrub, often growing in woodland or shrubland. The flowers are yellowish, pale yellow or pale yellowish green. The underside of the leaves is grey-green with yellow-brown or brown scales
The flower color of rhododendron in many people's impression should be a piece of red, but in fact, there are many kinds of rhododendron flower colors, such as white, pink, red, purple or yellow, these flower colors are determined by the concentration of anthocyanins and the pH of the environment.
Trees are born with rhododendrons
Rhododendron dendrochairs
Altitude: 2600-3000 meters
Flowering period: April to June
Distinguishing features: Epiphytic shrub, often grown in alpine coniferous forests. The flowers are broad funnel-shaped, bright rose-red with dark red spots. The leaves are small, no more than 2 cm long, with scales and brown stiff hairs. Rhododendron trees belong to the endemic species of Sichuan.
In order to adapt to different environments, the arboleas live an epiphytic life. Unlike parasitic forms that absorb nutrients from attached plants, epigenesis simply attaches to tall plants in order to absorb sunlight from higher places.
Large-leaved golden-capped cuckoo
Rhododendron faberi subsp.prattii
Altitude: 2800-3950 meters
Distinguishing features: Evergreen shrub, often growing in alpine bushes or under coniferous forests. The flowers are bell-shaped, white to reddish, with purple patches. There are thick reddish-brown hairs under the leaves, leaving thin white hairs after shedding.
The large-leaf rhododendron is a subspecies of the golden-crowned rhododendron commonly found in the high mountains of western Sichuan, and it is distinguished from the golden-crowned rhododendron in that it has larger leaves, thinner hairs under the leaves, and can be distributed up to 3950 meters above sea level.
Silver leaf cuckoo
Rhododendron argyrophyllum
Altitude: 1600-2300 meters
Identifying features: evergreen shrubs or small trees, often growing in the forest of hillsides and valleys. The flowers are bell-shaped, milky white or pink with purple spots. The leaf has a thin layer of silvery-white hairs underneath, shiny, and the edges are slightly reverse-curled.
To learn more about the differences between rhododendron species, it is necessary to rely on some leaf details to distinguish. For example, the hair under the blade is an important identifying feature. Among them, the silver leaf rhododendron is the most characteristic, its leaf back hair is silvery white and shiny, the leaf surface is green, dotted with pink flowers, unique.
Almost all of the rhododendrons listed above are endemic to China, and at the turn of spring and summer every year, the sea of rhododendrons blooming in the alpine regions of southwest China is always fascinating. When the azaleas are in full bloom, you may wish to savor their beauty
Editor's note: Dujiangyan Scenic Area Lidui Park (especially Qingxi Garden) has a lot of rhododendrons, like the small partner can go to inquire about Oh. (According to the data of "Green Yingdu Jiangyan", some figures are based on He Bo, Folding Ear Rabbit, Guyan Boat, Leisurely Shuke and other teachers, and thank you here.) ）
Transferred from: Meet Dujiangyan