Editor's note: From the deep sea to the mountains, from deserts to rainforests, plant imprints are found everywhere on earth. A world of changing years, climate change, geological movement, habitat change, plants that have endured and remain diverse in evolution. Voice of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Wuhan Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly opened "Flowers and Flowers of All Things", where we pay attention to the survival, competition, reproduction and death of plants, display the strange and colorful nature of the natural world, interpret the thousands of meteorological phenomena of life, explore the magical secret of life, and pay tribute to this silent and vigorous world.
Bai Juyi wrote in "Inviting Guests to Drink Under the Wood Hibiscus Flower": "Don't be afraid of autumn without companions and drunkenness, the water lotus flower blooms as much as the wood lotus blooms". The water lotus written by the Xiangshan resident is the lotus flower that "cleanses and does not demonize" in the summer, and the wood lotus is a wood hibiscus that matches the water features, because its flowers are like lotus flowers when they are budding and blooming enthusiastically, and they are analogous to lotus flowers in poems by ancient literati rioters, implying good images such as firm will and noble character.
Lotus-like wood hibiscus flowers
Hibiscus mutabilis L., is a deciduous shrub or small tree of the genus Hibiscus in the family Mallowaceae, native to Hunan and widely cultivated in many provinces across the country. Its twigs , petioles , peduncles and calyxes are densely covered with fine woolly hairs mixed with stellate hairs and straight hairs. The leaves are ovate or heart-shaped, sparsely covered with stellate fine hairs and dots on the top, and densely covered with stellate fine villi below; usually have 5-7 triangular lobes, pointed at the front end, and blunt circular serrations on the edges of the leaves; the flowers are solitary between the leaf axils at the end of the branches, the petals are nearly round, and the outer parts are hairy; the stamens have typical family characteristics - single stamens, the stamens filaments are united and fused into a barrel structure, set outside the flower column; the capsules are flattened and spherical, generally 5 fruit pieces, covered with pale yellow bristles and woolly hairs, and the seeds are kidney-shaped. Long soft hairs grow on the back.
Mu Furong (Photo: Zhang Lijun)
The flower of the wood hibiscus – the monomeric stamens
Wood Hibiscus Fruit (Image source: China Plant Image Library)
Wood hibiscus, also known as frost repellent flowers, is still in full bloom before and after the frost falls. The great literary scholar Su Shi wrote in the poem "He Shu Gu Rejects Frost Flowers": "Qianlin swept into a yellow, and only Furong was alone. Summoning the frost refusal is not known, but careful thinking is the most suitable frost. "When the ground falls yellow, only the wood hibiscus blooms alone, and if you think about it, this flower is so fearless of frost that it is most suitable to call it a frost-repellent flower." Not afraid of the cold wind, a proud posture of frost repellent flowers, there are also rouge-colored delicacies. From the white (pale pink) of the morning, to the pink of the bloom, and finally to the red of the evening, it seems to be soaked with the redness of the day. Wang Anshi of the Song Dynasty described it this way in the "Wood Hibiscus": "There are countless wood hibiscus at the water's edge, and the dew-dyed swallow fat color is not thick. Just like the beauty of the first drunk, strong lifting of the green mirror to make up. "The three-colored wood hibiscus, if the beauty is slightly drunk, is beautiful." Therefore, wood hibiscus is also known as "three drunken hibiscus" and "drunken hibiscus". The beautiful canopy of the wood hibiscus, when the flowers are in full bloom, the rouge of a tree between the green leaves is very charming.
Pale pink wood hibiscus in bloom in the morning
Crimson wood hibiscus that closes in the evening
Under the observation and experiment of scientific researchers, the reason for the three changes in the color of the wood hibiscus flower has now been deciphered. In fact, because the anthocyanin concentration and pH in the petal cells have changed during the change of temperature, the color of the flower has also changed. There are many plants with discoloration of flowers, there are many in nature, such as the more common honeysuckle, when the flowers are white when they first bloom, and then gradually become yellow, often called "honeysuckle"; the colorful lantana, when it first blooms, yellow or pink, gradually becomes yellow, also known as "five-color plum"; there is also the floral Mandarin duck jasmine, white at the beginning of the blossom, slowly turning blue; the flowering three days of wang lotus is also very typical, the wang lotus flowers bloom in the evening, when they first bloom, they become white, the next day they become pink, and the last day becomes red.
Lantana multicolor (Image source: Chinese Plant Image Library)
Mandarin duck jasmine (Image source: China Plant Image Library)
Competition in nature is fierce, survival of the fittest, and plants have to exert "wisdom" in order to compete for survival opportunities. The change of color is one of the best ways to survive. Flowers through the change of flower color, can let the pollen spreading animals correctly identify which flower is newly opened, the pollen is ripe, there is pollen nectar can be picked; which flower is about to wither, pollen nectar has been purchased. This is conducive to pollinators to better serve themselves, greatly increasing the chances of effective pollen transmission and helping future generations to reproduce. It can be seen that the discoloration of flowers is not at all to attract human attention, but only a way to survive on their own.
Insects pollinate wood hibiscus
However, people with rich emotions have added a lot of emotions because of flowers, leaving many chapters of popular people, which is also another role of plants on human beings, enriching people's spiritual world and improving cultural literacy. "Hibiscus" is once again a beautiful word, integrated into people's lives, especially in Hunan and Sichuan Provinces, because of the cultivation of wood hibiscus, creating urban culture.
Legend has it that Later Shu Mengchang was happy with Bo's "Lady Huarui" and planted a large area of wood hibiscus, and Chengdu was also known as "Rongcheng". According to the Five Dynasties of Chengdu Chronicle, "The Lord of Menghou was in the city of Chengdu and planted hibiscus all over the place. Every autumn, forty miles are like splendid embroidery, high and low, because of the name Rongcheng." In the Qing Dynasty, the planting scene in Chengdu was: "Baocheng ten miles green yin long, half kind of hibiscus and half kind of mulberry". In 1983, the wood hibiscus was selected as the city flower of Chengdu, and since 1985, Chengdu has held a wood hibiscus flower exhibition every year, and the follow-up construction of "Frost Rejection Garden" and "City Garden".
Chengdu Frost Rejection Garden (Image from the Internet)
Another province with deep ties to "Furong" is Hunan Province. Tan Yongzhi, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote in "Autumn Su Xiangjiang Encounters Rain": "Autumn wind wanli furong country, twilight rain thousands of families Xueli village." Wood Furong is native to Hunan, and because of the widespread recitation of poems, Hunan has the name of "Furong Country".
The high-value wood hibiscus has high ornamental value and is very popular in garden landscaping, especially the cultivated heavy petal varieties, with large flowers and beautiful flowers. Wood hibiscus can be planted in groups and bloom spectacularly; it can also be planted and planted alone, and it can bloom freely and leisurely; it can also be used as a hedge, fresh and natural. When wood hibiscus is combined with landscaping, it is most suitable for water, and is planted with woody plants such as weeping willows and Metasequoia and aquatic plants such as reeds, which together create a pleasant scene of wild fun with scenery in all seasons and different seasons. Wood hibiscus is surrounded by water, and it is mostly recorded in ancient books. In the "Chronicle of Long Things" written by Wen Zhenheng of the Ming Dynasty, it is said: "Furong should be planted on the shore of the pond, and it is better to be near the water, if it is planted elsewhere, there is no abundance." Ouyang Xiu also mentioned: "The leaf hibiscus on the lake contains the pulse of Si Qiu".
Linshui wood hibiscus (Source: China Plant Image Library)
Heavy-petaled wood hibiscus (Image source: China Plant Image Library)
In addition to the appearance of the line, the wood hibiscus is also very practical. The fibers of the stem skin, flexible and water-resistant, can be used as raw materials for textiles, ropes and substitutes for hemp fibers, and can also be used to make paper, and the "Xue Tao Note", which is known for its beautiful color, is made of "the water of Huanhua Creek, the skin of the wood hibiscus, and the juice of the hibiscus flower". It is said that the ancients also used wood hibiscus flowers to mash the juice and dye silk as an account, which is the famous "hibiscus tent".
Wood hibiscus as a delicacy is also fresh and delicious, and the soup is made of soup, soft and smooth. Fresh hibiscus buds are picked and washed to scramble eggs, which are fragrant and can also be accompanied by glutinous rice to make "hibiscus flower porridge". You can also use flower petals and chicken meat to make hibiscus flower chicken slices, which are full of color and taste.
Hibiscus tofu soup (image from the Internet)
Spring to autumn, the four seasons change; flowers blossom, life cycle, wood hibiscus with the seasons change, evolving the cycle of life. When the fruit is fruitful, it is the time when the wood hibiscus blooms beautifully, and the autumn is high and refreshing, come to see its delicate appearance that changes three times a day, and feel the beauty of the artistic conception of Xiao makeup like jade twilight.
A tree of rouge light powder
bibliography:
1. Shi Jun. The Extraordinary Power of Wood Hibiscus Discolored Flowers[J].Exploration and Discovery, 2019(9):52-55.
2. Lu Jianguo,Li Yan. Ornamental characteristics of wood hibiscus and its garden application[J].Northern Horticulture,2007(12):163-164.
3. Flora of China http://www.iplant.cn/
Source: Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences