(This article is from the August 2016 issue of "Knowledge is Power" magazine "August to see the flowers of the mountains in the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau", author: Zheng Hailei, original works, reprint please indicate that it is from the knowledge is the power of WeChat public account)
If you have never seen the wildflowers blooming in the Hengduan Mountains, you may never know that the grass and trees of the world are so wonderful...
Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau (Image from the Internet)
The first solar term in August is autumn, although it is nominally autumn, the weather is starting to cool down day by day, but the afterglow of summer is still fierce, and most parts of our country are still hot and unbearable. But in China's Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau region, especially in the Hengduan Mountains of western Yunnan, there is still a long rainy season of sunny and rainy weather, and the climate is as cool and pleasant as in June and July. Let's take a look!
Torch flowers and upside-down pots compete for glory
The Torch Festival is equivalent to their New Year for the people of yi, Bai, Naxi, Kino and Lahu, and is therefore extraordinarily grand. After the Torch Festival, a wildflower with a bright red color and a torch-like shape quietly blooms on a rocky hillside, attracting attention. Because it always blooms after the torch festival, people call it "torch flower". It is precisely for this reason that between the mountains and forests before and after the torch festival, there is always a bright red.
Torch Flower (Image from the Internet)
Along with the torch flower, there is also the fine bamboo artemisia grass, its three small petals have a dream-like purple color, and the calyx behind the petals seems to be transparent, and the branches stand like mountain fairies.
In the grass in the mountains, you can occasionally see several orchids, such as pink grass and white long-distance jade phoenix. In the eastern low-altitude areas, it blooms in May and June, and when it reaches the plateau, the flowering period is slightly later, and it will bloom from July to October, and the small flowers are spiral-shaped on the inflorescence axis, with a peculiar shape, so it is also called "Panlong Ginseng". The long-distance jade phoenix flower is as clean as jade, with a little turquoise in the white, like a flying white crane.
Between the grasses, blue upside-down pots and small blue snowflakes bloom with dotted, crystal clear blue flowers, indicating that autumn in Hengduan Mountain will be a romantic season of blue and purple.
Upside down pot (image from the Internet)
Blue-purple wildflowers create autumn romance
On this plateau, the color of autumn is actually dominated by various blue and purple wildflowers.
Rhododendrons, which have been blooming since February, from low altitude to high altitude, from common to rare species, enter august, and this field of rhododendrons finally blooms to the end of the crossbow and begins to be replaced by plants of the gentian, platycodon and hydrangeae.
Dianshui Jinfeng (Image from the Internet)
Plants of the hydrangea family, I believe everyone is more familiar, is a regular visitor to garden plants. Rural fields also often have a kind of hydrangea flowers, which can be used to dye red nails, so they are also called henna. In Yunnan in August, the more common hydrangeas are Dianshui Golden Phoenix, Yunnan West Hydrangea Flower, Blue Flower Hydrangea Flower, Ear Leaf Hydrangea Flower, Radiant Hydrangea Flower, etc., the most common of which is the Purple Flower Dianshui Golden Phoenix, which often blooms all over the mountains in autumn.
The way the plants of the hydrangea family spread seeds is very interesting, after its fruit is ripe, when a person or animal touches its pod, it will trigger its "mechanism", and the entire pod will split at a very fast speed, shooting the seed bullet to two or three meters away, and the plants of the hydrangea family will complete the continuation of the next generation in this special way.
Southwest Bluebell (Image from the Internet)
On the hillside meadows between 2000 and 2600 meters in the Hengduan Mountains, there are various wildflowers of the Orange Terrier family, such as the hanging "purple bells" - southwest bluebells, rows of sky blue sand ginseng, and egg ginseng that is as big as an egg around the forest flowers, which surprise people all the time.
Of course, there are all kinds of wildflowers, which dress up the entire hillside in the shape of a purple and red color. White hydrangea windproof, lake blue purple finch, pale yellow yinxing grass, dark purple Chinese old stork grass, lilac partial winged Tang pine grass, purple-black Chinese old stork grass, white ghost blowpipe... It's dizzying.
The beauty of alpine plants blooms
If you continue upwards, climbing higher above sea level, you will encounter thin-leaved primroses and heart-leaved begonias with lilac flowers on the cliff walls, and further up, the rare Himalayan tiger ear grass and Nu River ear fungus.
On the sunny slopes, you will encounter a false heavenly jar with calyxes like spider silk hairs, oval leaf anchors with strange names, gray thistles with densely spiked leaves, small inches of golden yellow and inconspicuous plants, and the more inconspicuous plant of the flax family, the heterogeneous plant.
Marginal Bird Foot Orchid (Image from the Internet)
After climbing to an altitude of 2700 meters, some rare and beautiful alpine plants such as the orchid family's marginal hairy bird's foot orchid, the Ubiquila grass of the Family Genshinaceae, and the protruding plum grass of the Tiger Ear Grass family will also appear one after another. Among the shady bushes, you'll encounter ginger and ginger, and maybe the Tibetan ivory ginseng left over from July.
As you climb up, you may encounter beautiful red-bellied pheasants and other migrating birds. You may also encounter a variety of alpine butterflies, mainly species of the genus Daisy, such as the small cloud-spotted Butterfly, the Colorful Spotted Butterfly, as well as some butterflies of the genus Ringed Butterfly, a small number of silk butterflies, grace butterflies, rock butterflies, white-eyed butterflies, reticulated butterflies, as well as the more beautiful butterflies and narrow-spotted butterflies, etc., all of which fly like elves.
Tibetan Orchid (Image from the Internet)
Walking to the meadow above 3600 meters above sea level, a variety of gentian flowers such as Adunzi gentian and gorgeous gentian, one flower after another, a cluster of bushes, stretching into an endless sea of blue flowers, like a deep sea, making people unforgettable. At this time, the Tibetan orchid and the Yunnan orchid will emerge like a spirit, and its drooping lips are like slippers, so they are also called "slipper orchids".
The higher the altitude, the shorter the plants seem to grow. High at the top of the peak, clinging to the ground, covered in dew, it resists the strong mountain winds at an altitude of nearly 4,000 meters above sea level, along with the wind-distorted Cangshan fir and the tall rhododendron bushes.
New Media Editor: Liu Weiqiong
Original editor: Liu Weiqiong
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