In the past two days, Dali has a hot search for internet red flowers, and this time it finally did not mention "water-based poplar flowers", but its big name "sea cauliflower".
Image source: Pear Video Weibo
Sea cauliflower is not common and is sought after as soon as it appears. Sea cauliflower is a rare plant in China, only growing in enough clean water, the flowers are pure and lovely, and they can fully afford the name of "net red flowers".
Image source: Xinhua Net
However, you may be like garbage on the surface of the water.
Image source: A netizen Weibo
It's like chasing a star for a long time, seeing myself shoot paste... You say heartache is not heartache.
Therefore, today we not only tell the story of visiting the sea cauliflower, but also teach you how to shoot beautiful sea cauliflower.
It's a delicate little princess who is right
Sea cauliflower is a submerged plant of the turtle family, quite delicate, and the slightest pollution of the water body will die.
I thought it only liked to grow in the depths of the mountains like a paradise, but many years ago, I once found a sea cauliflower by a small river in Guangxi.
After years of observation, I found that sea cauliflower can bloom all year round in Guangxi. The flowers are at their peak in spring from April to May and in the fall from September to October, and the river is full of flowers.
Sea cauliflowers sway slowly with the current
Photographed: Wu Shuang
Summer is another sight: after heavy rains, the water is rushing, and the flowers are pulled into the water, forming a spectacle of "underwater flowering"!
Since the sea cauliflower is flourishing, it means that the river is clean. Where does this water come from? I had walked all the way up the river and found its main source: in the stone mountains of the karst landscape, there was a cave that constantly gushed out pure groundwater.
The water here is crystal clear, and small fish move among the leaves of the cauliflower. The source of the water is clean, and there is no source of pollution along the way, no wonder the sea cauliflower likes it.
Villagers fish on a small river full of cauliflowers
However, the sea cauliflower only grows in a 2-kilometer-long section of the river, although the upstream is clear, it is estimated that the river bottom environment, water depth and other conditions are not suitable, so there is no sea cauliflower.
As for the lower reaches of the main river, not to mention, due to the gradual density of villages and towns, the river water is slowly becoming dirty, and the sea cauliflower is naturally extinct.
Flower buds that bloom on the surface of the water
Sea cauliflowers take root in river mud and have long leaves, like kelp. Its entire plant is sunk underwater, and the only thing that can be exposed to the surface is its flowers.
In the past, some people ate the delicate inflorescences of sea cauliflower as vegetables, but if you don't know whether it is wild or artificially farmed, it is recommended that you do not eat it.
Stir-fry seafood
Image source: Wikipedia
When the cauliflower blooms, a long inflorescence stem protrudes, and a flower bud is attached to the end, which is very light so that it can float to the surface.
After that, the flowers bloom against the surface of the water.
Female and male flowers of sea cauliflower (left) and male flowers (right)
The sea cauliflower is divided into female and male plants, and the male and female flowers have three crepe-like white petals, but it is easy to distinguish: the male flowers have 12 stamens, while the female flowers have 3 forked stigmas that look like 6 yellow fuses.
After the female flowers are pollinated, they gradually grow into spindle-shaped fruits and sink into the water.
By dissecting the fruit of the cauliflower, many yellow seeds can be seen.
Friends of sea cauliflower
A sea cauliflower is like a small underwater forest, and many life like to live in it. In shallow waters, many xiā tiger fish can often be seen, and they are attracted by the small insects and shrimp in the cauliflower bush.
Silly goby
Goby fish are ferocious little hunters, although small, but not afraid of people, and will even open their mouths to "roar" to show the red stripes on their jaws, which is their intimidating behavior.
Wild peptus grass also grows with sea cauliflower. The flowers of the pelvic grass are a lovely yellow, which complements the white sea cauliflower.
Pingpeng grass
The leaves of the puffy grass are divided into floating water leaves and submerged water leaves, and the floating water leaves are like ordinary water lily leaves, floating on the water. And the sunken leaves grow large and wrinkled under the water, like "lettuce" under the water.
Teach you to take a good "half-water photo"
The sea cauliflower is basically finished, and it is the point: how to shoot the sea cauliflower.
We generally take pictures on the shore, in fact, the sea cauliflower should be taken at close range, and it is good to take a "half-water photo". Moreover, after all, only the flowers are exposed to the water, and most of the plants are underwater.
If the mobile phone and camera are not waterproof, teach you a trick "fish tank dafa":
Put the camera into a transparent small fish tank, and then half immerse the fish tank in the water, so that the lens is half on the water surface and half under the water surface, you can shoot the "half water photo" of the sea cauliflower.
Give you a fish tank and imagine it for yourself
But there are two disadvantages to this: you can't see the frame, you can only shoot blindly, take ten pictures to pick out one that can be seen; and holding a heavy fish tank and a camera, bending down in the water to operate, is really a test for the waist muscles.
So what to do?
Buy a waterproof camera with a changeable lens.
Taking pictures is not only expensive, but also necessary. Some of the shooting sites are very deep, and it is not enough to roll up the pant legs, and you have to wear rubber pants for fishermen.
Not only the camera must be launched, but also the people must be launched.
Photo: Chen Xiaoming
When you go underwater, the photos taken are not deceitful, and you don't believe you can see it yourself.
Sea cauliflower
Written, photographed | Wu Shuang
WeChat Editor | Xie Shuang