Densely packed with wild lettuce fills the water.
Zhong Pingsheng artificially cultivated lettuce
Guangzhou Daily News (All-media reporter Bu Yu correspondent Dong Zilong photo report) "In Gaofeng Village and Yaohe Village in the mountainous area of Nanxiong's Main Tian Town, we found wild lettuce, a national first-level key protected wild plant with an area of about 17 acres. Previously, in Guangdong, it was only found in the Nanling National Protected Area, with only about 50 plants. After inspecting other lettuce native areas in China, I believe that the size of wild lettuce communities found in Nanxiong is among the highest in the country. Zhong Pingsheng, a technician at the Management Office of the Xiaoliukeng-Qingzhangshan Provincial Nature Reserve in Nanxiong, Guangdong Province, and the first specially appointed professional of Nanxiong City, disclosed his major discoveries to reporters yesterday.
A few days ago, under the leadership of Zhong Pingsheng, this reporter braved the rain to march toward the deep mountains of Nanxiong's main tian town surrounded by heavy mountains. In an overgrown pond with only one small path to reach, a "water lily" shaped plant gently swayed with the wind and rain on the surface of the water.
The reporter leaned down to carefully observe and found that the oval -- shaped "adult" leaves were covered with copper coins, and their rhizomes stretched in the water, intricate and intricate. The young leaves floating in the water are pointed at both ends, curled inward in the middle, and the whole body is wrapped in a layer of crystal clear, soft and tender jelly-like gelatin. This is the wild lettuce that was praised by the ancient Chinese literati as the "Eight Immortals of Jiangnan Water", which is extremely smooth and delicious.
"This pond is located in a high-altitude mountainous area, there is no industrial pollution around it, and the water quality meets the national class 1 water quality standard." Zhong Pingsheng told reporters that it is difficult for ordinary rivers and lakes in plains to feed it, because lettuce is purely pollution-resistant and must be grown in natural water bodies with water quality that meet the national class I and class II standards.
Although artificially cultivated lettuce is a famous specialty dish in Jiangnan, wild lettuce is listed as a first-class key protected plant in China. Lettuce was already a well-known vegetable as early as the pre-Qin dynasty, and the ancients found that it often grew in extremely clean water, so it was named "lettuce" because of its "pure sex and easy to grow". However, with the rapid disappearance of clean wetlands required for wild lettuce, wild lettuce is listed as a national key protected plant in order to preserve germplasm resources and genetic diversity.
According to Zhong Pingsheng, as early as 2014, when he was conducting a plant survey in Nanxiong, he found this precious plant in the "Tianchi" of Qingzhang Mountain, and since then, he has successively found this precious plant in Gaofeng Village and Yaohe Village in his daily work.
Artificial cultivation expands the lettuce population
Zhong Pingsheng said that after a re-investigation at the beginning of this year, it was found that the villages of Yaohe in the mountainous area of Nanxiong City and Jiangtou Town were distributed with a relatively large number of wild lettuce with an area of more than 60 mu, and the number of wild resources ranked first in China. Zhong Pingsheng hopes to remind readers through the Guangzhou Daily that if they see lettuce in the wild, they must not be eaten casually. It is illegal to pick wild lettuce without permission.
In order to rescue and protect this green treasure house, the seed station of the Nanxiong Municipal Agriculture and Rural Bureau has preliminarily planned 24.2 hectares (364 acres) of land to establish a lettuce germplasm resources conservation area after investigation and research.
It is understood that in accordance with the zoning requirements of the germplasm resources conservation area, Nanxiong is planning to divide the ponds such as Shantangkeng and Huangtang, where wild lettuce grows, as the core area, and the 355 mu of mountain forests and paddy fields in the rain collection area around the relevant ponds are divided into peripheral protected areas, and the planning scope involves the four village committees of The main field town and Jiangtou Town.
Zhong Pingsheng said that lettuce is a national key protected wild plant and an important national vegetable strategic resource. At present, China has established a number of lettuce germplasm resources conservation areas in Hangzhou West Lake, Sichuan Mahu Lake, Hubei Lichuan, Hunan Guidong and other places for strict protection.
"I hope that after the rescue protection through the establishment of the Lettuce Germplasm Resources Conservation Area, the next step is to expand its population through artificial cultivation, so that it can reach a planting area of 2,000 mu in the Nanxiong Mountains, so as to further industrialize development." Zhong Pingsheng said.