So this time, when I had the honor to go to the Pan'an Zhebeimu planting base with Xiao Dong, and the beautiful Lin, I was still looking forward to getting a glimpse of this little munchkin.
(Zhebeimu, photography: the wind on the network)
Because of the schedule, the first day went to the Dapanshan Medicinal Botanical Garden, the next day before rushing to Zhebeimu base. It is now in the flowering period of Zhebeimu, I had expected to see the scene full of Zhebeimu flowers blooming, a plant Zhebeimu like a small tendril of the column of soldiers standing neatly in the field between the ridge.
(Zhebeimu, photography: the wind on the network)
But when I arrived at the base, I only saw green plants covering the field ridge, but I could not see any sign of flowering, I can not help but be filled with questions?
The accompanying Xiao Dong introduced to me, it turns out that in order to let the plant's nutrients can be concentrated as much as possible in the bulb of the zhebei, farmers in the zhebei plant in the process of growth, will be removed zhebei mother above the flower stems, to prevent nutrient loss to the flower.
(Zhebeimu, photo: Wind on the Web)
Hearing this introduction, I couldn't help but cry and laugh in my heart. But it's normal for farmers to do this to ensure the quality of their goods. After visiting a number of planting bases, I feel more and more that it's not easy for farmers to make money, and often after putting in arduous labor, they have to depend on the time of the day, as well as changes in the market.
The good thing is that there are still some fish in the field, and occasionally you can still find a few plants in bloom, and quickly take pictures.
Fritillaria thunbergii is a plant of the genus Fritillaria in the lily family. Leaves are sub-striped and lanceolate, opposite or scattered at the bottom, upward and scattered, opposite and whorled. Apex not curled or slightly curved.
Flowers 1 to 6, pale yellow, sometimes slightly lavender. The apical flowers have three to four leafy bracts with the apex curled, the rest with two bracts. The moustache we see is its bracts and not its leaves.
(Fruit of Zhenbeimu, picture from the internet)
After the flowers of Zhenbeimu wither, its capsule grows up to be about 2-2.2 centimeters in length, 2.5 centimeters in width, and the wings on the ribs are about 6-8 millimeters wide.
(Zhenbeimu, photo: zh)
The bulb of Zhenbeimu consists of 2-3 bulbs. Fresh bulbs are white, and after drying, the surface turns grayish-brown or yellowish-brown.
(Zhebeimu, photo: zh)
There are two ways to propagate Zhebeimu, one is sexual reproduction with seeds and the other is asexual reproduction with seed bulbs. When grown as a commercial product, asexual reproduction is generally adopted. The seed bulbs are planted in September and October of each year, and then harvested in early summer of the following year, after the plants wither in late May.
Zhebeimu, as one of the famous "eight flavors of Zhejiang", is mainly produced in Zhejiang Province, Jiangsu (south) and (Hunan). It is grown in Xiangshan, Ningbo, and is called "Xiangbei" and "Dabei" because of its large size. In the Dongyang area, there is a variant of Zhebei called "Dongbei".
(Zhebeimu, photo: Wind on the Web)
Many people's first reaction when they hear about Zhebei is that I've only heard of Chuanbei, what the hell is Zhebei? In fact, Zhebei appeared during the North and South Dynasties, while the use of Chuanbei only began to appear at the end of the Ming Dynasty.
Both have the effect of transforming phlegm to stop coughing, Zhebei clearing heat and dispersing knots, transforming phlegm to stop coughing, the efficacy of the scattered, more suitable for acute cough, and Chuanbei nourishing yin and moisturizing the lungs, clearing heat and transforming phlegm, the efficacy of the tonic, more suitable for the long time coughing.
In fact, in addition to Zhebei and Chuanbei, there are Pingbei and Yibei used as medicine.
For reasons of space, the next chapter will talk about the different varieties of shellfish and the difference between the original plant. It will not be repeated here.