The history, varieties, cultivation and uses of lotus. Lotus varieties are traditional cultivated varieties in Beijing.

Single petal flower type.

The flower buds are peach-shaped, green, with red upper parts and white flowers.

The flowers bloom early, starting in early June, and the group flowering period is about one month.

Lotus roots form early.

In late July, the new lotus roots are repotted for the second time, and the flowering period can last until around early October.

There are natural variations of red and pink baby lotus.

It is a traditional cultivated variety in Xiamen.

Single petal flower type.

The flower buds are peach-shaped, green, with reddish tips, white pollen, and reddish tips when they first open.

Flowering begins in early June, and the group flowering period lasts for one month.

Its petals are slender, the receptacle is small, the leaves are lush and the flowers are abundant, making it easy to bloom.

It is a well-known variety that is widely cultivated.

Double flower shape.

The flower buds are round and peach-shaped, purple-red, with many red flowers.

Flowering begins in mid-June, and the group flowering period lasts for one month.

The flowers are brightly colored and easy to bloom in pots.

An ancient variety of bowl lotus.

Double flower type.

The flower buds are round and peach-shaped, pink, with white pollen and red petal tip edges.

The flowers bloom more frequently, starting in late June, and the group flowering period lasts for one month. It is easy to bloom in pots.

Breed by Hangzhou Flower Garden, Zhejiang Province.

Plants are short.

Single petal flower type.

The flower buds are peach-shaped, green, and the flowers are small and white.

Very suitable for cultivation in pots and bowls.

It blooms profusely and the group flowering period is from mid-June to mid-August.

History of lotus: The scientific name of lotus is Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn, and the lotus belongs to the genus Nelumbo of the Nymphaeaceae family.

Nelumbo Adans. is one of the earliest species among angiosperms.

According to paleobotanist research on fossils, 135 million years ago, lotus plants were distributed in many water areas in the northern hemisphere.

At that time, the giant reptile dinosaurs were in the late stages of rapid decline. They grew on the earth much earlier than the appearance of human ancestors (2 million years ago).

According to "Paleobotany" (1965) of the former Soviet Union A.H. Christopherovich, fossils of the genus Nelumbo were found in the Cretaceous Period in the Arctic region of North America and the Amur River in Asia (i.e. Heilongjiang), and in the Oligocene Period in Europe, East Asia (Sakhalin Island), and Japan.

and in Miocene strata.

At that time, the temperature on the earth was warmer than now. There were about 10 to 12 species of lotus plants, distributed on all five continents.

With the advent of the Post-Ice Age, global temperatures dropped, causing many plants to become extinct, while others were forced to migrate, completely breaking their original geographical distribution.

Suffering from this disaster, only two species of Lotus plants survived, and their distribution range was reduced.

The Chinese lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) is distributed in Asia and northern Oceania, and the American lotus (N.lutea) has migrated to North America. Paleobotanists also pointed out that the Pleistocene to Holocene nectar excavated in Hokkaido and Kyoto, Japan

The lotus fossil (2 million years ago) is similar to the modern Chinese lotus; the 10 million-year-old lotus leaf fossil excavated in the Qaidam Basin in China is similar to the modern Chinese lotus.

In the 1970s, the Petroleum Exploration and Development Planning Institute of the Ministry of Petroleum and Chemical Industry of China and the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences recorded in the book "Early Tertiary Palynomorphs in the Bohai Coastal Area": ??in Panshan, Liaoning Province, Beidagang, Tianjin, Kenli, Shandong Province,

Pollen fossils of two kinds of lotus were found in Guangrao and Cangzhou, Hebei Province.

Fossils of Lotus plants have also been found in the strata of the Changchang Basin in Qiongshan, Hainan Island, my country, within the Tertiary tropical phytogeographic region.

At present, the original wild lotus is still distributed in the lakes and swamps of Fuyuan, Hulin, Tongjiang, Shangzhi and other counties in Heilongjiang Province.

The above shows that lotus is an ancient plant before the Ice Age. It, like metasequoia (melasequoiagly plostroboides), ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), Chinese tulip tree (Liriodendron chinese), and North American sequoia (Sequoia sempervirens), is not swallowed up by glaciers during the ice age.

Representatives of surviving relict plants.

The Mystery of the Waterproof and Self-Cleaning Lotus Leaf The surface of the lotus leaf is attached with countless micron-sized wax papilla structures.

When observing these papillae with an electron microscope, you can see that there are many nanometer-sized particles with a similar structure attached to the surface of each micron-sized papilla. Scientists call this the micron-nano dual structure of the lotus leaf.

It is these tiny dual structures that make the contact area between the lotus leaf surface and water droplets or dust very limited, so the phenomenon of water droplets rolling on the leaf surface and taking away dust occurs.

And the water does not stay on the surface of the lotus leaf.

3. Scientific Explanation of Broken Lotus Root When talking about lotus, lotus root is naturally mentioned.

Nederland belongs to the Nymphaeaceae family and is a perennial herb planted in shallow ponds.

Its stem grows in the mud and metamorphoses into a rhizome, which is the lotus root, also known as lotus root.

The lotus roots grow horizontally in the mud and absorb nutrients from the fibrous roots on the base stem nodes.

Because lotus root meat is thick, crisp, tender and slightly sweet, contains a lot of starch and is rich in nutrients, it has been a favorite food of people since ancient times.

When we break the lotus roots, we can observe countless long white lotus root threads connecting the broken lotus roots.

Why is there such a disconnection phenomenon?

This is about observing the structure of lotus root.

It turns out that in order for plants to grow, the tissues that transport water and nutrients are called vessels and tracheids.