Fengqiao Cephalotaxus

Nowadays, children love to eat cashew nuts and pistachio nuts imported from abroad on New Year's Day; when I was young and spent the Spring Festival in my hometown of Hangzhou, I loved to eat my hometown's native products such as hickory nuts and Cephalotaxus. Especially the shell thin kernel full, crispy fresh Cephalotaxus, grab a handful in the pocket, while playing and eating, really a New Year's Eve fun.

This kind of dried fruit is abundant in Zhejiang, Song Dynasty Hangzhou governor Su Dongpo, he must be very difficult to eat in his hometown of Sichuan, known as the "Queen of Dried Fruit" Cephalotaxus. Su Shi was relegated to Hangzhou, but his old man's mouth is full; otherwise, why did he write a poem praising Cephalotaxus: "His beautiful jade mountain fruit, charm for the gold plate food"? Cephalotaxus I ate since I was a child, but it grows on the tree is what it looks like, but to the old have not seen. Years ago, I went to Wuyi Mountain tour, I heard that there are also Cephalotaxus trees, I asked the comrades of the nature reserve there to point out to me to recognize. When we walked on the road, he pointed to the front of a turquoise tree called: "That is the Cephalotaxus!" I rushed up to see it, and when I got to the tree, the comrade apologized and said, "Ah, I was wrong, it's not a Cephalotaxus, it's a Sequoia." Sequoia also known as yew, tephrosia is also belong to the yew family of gymnosperms, so look very similar. Sequoia, a shallow-rooted plant, its main root is not obvious, developed lateral roots, is recognized as the world's endangered natural rare anticancer plants, is the Quaternary glacial legacy of the ancient tree species, on the earth has a history of 2.5 million years. Due to its slow growth rate and poor regeneration ability under natural conditions, the world has not formed a large-scale raw material forest base of the red douglas fir for a long time. China has classified it as a rare and endangered plant, and the United Nations has banned logging.

There is a coincidence, I have a sculptor friend, is also a wood carving collector, a year in the fall I accompanied him to visit the wood carving museum in Dongyang. The traditional wood carving crafts on display there, really colorful, dazzling. I look at the wood carving materials used hard texture, texture detailed, asked some of the material used is actually Cephalotaxus, the original this area is the main producing areas of China's Cephalotaxus. That day there is a Zhuji agronomist to do business, the day to go back to Fengqiao, he took the initiative to warmly invite us to see the famous Fengqiao Cephalotaxus township.

To the win of the forest and spring Zhuji, the host took us along a mountain path winding up along the stream, suddenly found that the distant mountains as if there are a group of girls dressed in dark green dress dancing, that is, I longed for a long time of Cephalotaxus trees, lush surrounded by the abundance of this "Fengqiao Cephalotaxus" known as the Zhongjialing The village of Zhongjialing is famous for producing "Fengqiao Cephalotaxus". The olive-shaped fruit hangs all over the branches, bending them. The deep blue leaves of the tree are lance-shaped, spirally arranged, very beautiful; the main trunk is low, the lateral branches are horizontal, the crown is like a spreading skirt, which is very similar to the red bean cedar, and it can deceive people's eyes from afar. The leaves emit a strong and peculiar odor, which makes the crops of this village free from insect pests. The children here all look quite healthy, which is said to be related to the frequent eating of tephrosia, because the tephrosia seeds are also a kind of good medicine for roundworms!

The agronomist introduced us to the general knowledge of tephrosia: tephrosia is mostly dioecious like ginkgo, and individual non-fruitful ones are male plants, which rely on wind pollination, and a male tephrosia can pollinate female tephrosia within a radius of more than ten kilometers. Pollinated female flowers gradually develop into green olive-like seeds, which turn purple when mature, and are often mistaken for fruit and pericarp, but in fact for the aril; peeling off the aril can be seen inside the thin yellow-brown woody exocarp, which is usually seen on the market of Cephalotaxus sinensis. There is a layer of purple-black inner seed coat in the outer seed coat, close to the tender white seed kernel, the seeds by frying, golden color, crispy, so that eaters love to eat non-stop. Just now you said the tree "fruit" tired, should be changed to "seed" tired it! The seeds of Cephalotaxus sinensis now on the tree were pollinated in the early summer of last year, and have only grown up after sixteen months. Look carefully, next to them as small as a soybean, is this year's knot of tephrosia; next year's knot of tephrosia's hidden flowers have been formed, just not easy to see. This is what the locals mean by "three generations" of tephrosia.

Fengqiao farmers planted tephrosia are grafted propagation with the red cedar, because of its good quality, the development of fast. In the past, in the extreme "left" trend of thought, had the management of forestry as "capitalism tail", here the tephrosia tree is almost cut off; after the reform and opening up, has been restored to tens of thousands of acres. Zhongjialing is known for its large yield and good quality due to its suitable soil and water for the growth of Cephalotaxus. Now, the market supply of Cephalotaxus, the price is rising, or "West Lake Fair" on the sought-after goods? For Fengqiao farmers, has not only "Cephalotaxus ripe, food and clothing enough", but a good way to get rich.

The Cephalotaxus tree is not only cultivated to withstand the rough, and the income period is long, five or six hundred years, or even thousands of years of old trees are still knots tired, as people have been known as: "a generation of Cephalotaxus hundred generations cool, a year of Cephalotaxus thousand years of incense." Cephalotaxus tree branches and leaves, evergreen, and can absorb sulfur, is an excellent green ornamental species. Our host sent us back to Zhuji, still along the mountain and down the stream, with beautiful scenery on the way, and when I asked, I realized that it was Ramie Mountain and Ruoye Stream. I couldn't help but remember Li Bai's poem, "The water of Xishi's Yuexi, a sea of brightly colored clouds". This is the place where Dr. Fan Li found the beauty of the Raccoon Pavilion! I proposed to take a rest by the Raccoon Pavilion. The ancient stone of "Wunsa is still there today" is two meters high, with the word "Wunsa" carved on it, which is said to have been written by Wang Xizhi. I asked with a smile, "You Zhuji people love to eat Cephalotaxus, right? I have been in Zhuji over 100 years old famous agricultural scientist Mr. Jin Shanbao's home, tasted his praise of the Cephalotaxus. Then, Xishi must also love to eat her hometown's Cephalotaxus, and this 'queen of dried fruits' may have longevity and beauty benefits!" The agronomist also said humorously, "Then how about an advertisement for our 'Fengqiao Cephalotaxus'?"

------------------ taken from 2004-5-28 Zhejiang Daily electronic edition, by Lai Xianyao