Sand punch, formally known as Mongolian nine.

Mongolian Nine, is a plant of the genus Punch in the lily family. The bulbs are densely clustered and terete; the outer skin of the bulbs is tawny and breaks up into a loose, fibrous mass. Leaves semiterete to terete, shorter than scape, 0.5 to 1.5 mm thick. Scape terete, 10 to 30 cm tall, proximally sheathed by leaf sheaths; style slightly longer than ovary, not projecting beyond perianth.

It occurs in Qinghai (N), Gansu, Ningxia (N), Shaanxi (N), Nei Mongol, and Liaoning (W).

Mongolia IX grows in deserts, sandy places, or arid slopes at altitudes of 800 to 2800 meters. In Qinghai the altitude reaches 2800 to 3400 meters. Mongolia nine distribution area of the average annual rainfall of 39 to 370 millimeters, precipitation has a wide range of ecological adaptation. Gansu and Inner Mongolia sand, Gobi, etc. is Mongolia nine concentrated distribution of the region, in this region Mongolia nine was patchy distribution in some counties (districts), commonly found in the pre-mountain alluvial, floodplain fan, stony slopes and seasonal rivers on the dry riverbed, in some of the stony slopes and stony Gobi can be the dominant species of the community.

Mongolian nine is a long sunshine light-loving plants, drought, cold, barren ability is very strong, when the rainfall growth is rapid, drought stops the growth of leaf cellulose, edible deterioration. The appropriate temperature for growth is 10 to 26 ℃, both high temperature and low temperature resistance, in the temperature range of 10 to 40 ℃ can survive. Under low light conditions, the growth of weak, gray-green leaves, the growth of wild conditions require lower air humidity and permeability of pure sand.

Mongolian nine main value

Eating

Mongolian nine is a perennial herbaceous plant of the lily family, and it is the most widely consumed wild vegetable by pastoralists in the region of origin, and it is consumed in the following ways.

Fresh vegetables: with fresh young leaves, cold, fried in oil or stir-fried with meat. Local folk believe that it is best to put oil when frying Mongolian nine, and consuming too much will lead to swelling of the whole body and stomach pain.

Pickling and eating: collect the young leaves in summer, add yogurt and salt to pickle, or mix with the young fruits of groundnut and young leaves of sand mustard to pickle, and you can start to eat it after a week or so.

For seasoning: fresh young leaves for seasoning, seasoning noodles, fried rice and meat; autumn collection of inflorescences, crushed into a ball and then dried, called "Zameng", winter cooking meat, noodles can be used as a condiment.

Feeding

Mongolian nine is a superior forage plant, not only large and small livestock are happy to eat and have the effect of catching fat, horses, sheep, camels eating Mongolia nine can reduce the nose, pharyngeal cavity by parasitic infections. Because Mongolia nine has a spicy flavor, so any livestock can not be a single long-term forage. In the mixed feeding with other plants, it can improve the appetite and increase the amount of food. Sheep foraging Mongolia nine fast and long-lasting fat, and meat is also delicious. Mongolia nine high nutritional value, according to China's Academy of Agricultural Sciences Grassland Research Institute and Inner Mongolia Grassland Survey and Design Institute analysis, the flowering period (August) the content of its crude protein accounted for 17 to 28% of the dry matter, crude fat accounted for 2 to 3%.

Ecology

Mongolian nine of the root system is particularly developed, its root growth range is: longitudinal depth of up to 70 to 80 centimeters, horizontal 50 to 60 centimeters, of which 90% of the root system is mainly distributed in the horizontal 30 to 40 centimeters, 5 to 30 centimeters in depth within the range. Its ability to fix sand, prevent wind and water erosion is excellent. In addition, Mongolia nine is extremely adaptable, in areas with less than 50 millimeters of precipitation, even if there is no precipitation for a few years, its root system will not die, but remain dormant, once there is rainfall, it can quickly sprout and germinate, and in about 10 days, the length of the leaf blade can reach its maximum. This is of great significance for the restoration and reconstruction of vegetation in desert areas and their fragile ecosystems, as well as for biodiversity conservation, and thus has a high ecological value.

Medicinal use

Mongolia nine whole grass into medicine.