Stories and legends of wintersweet

Chimonanthus praecox, also known as Chimonanthus praecox, Huang Meihua Chimonanthus praecox, snowflake, wax tree, wax flower, croton flower, winter plum, Xue M

Chimonanthus praecox, also known as Chimonanthus praecox, Huang Meihua Chimonanthus praecox, snowflake, wax tree, wax flower, croton flower, winter plum, Xue Mei, cold plum, golden plum, yellow plum, dried plum flower and early plum rain, are traditional precious ornamental flowers in China. Chimonanthus praecox, especially Prunus hujiaoensis, blooms in October of the lunar calendar, so it is called early plum.

Flower language of wintersweet

Love, noble heart, loyalty, independence, perseverance, loyalty, fortitude, firmness, noble character, arrogance, purity of mind, integrity and independent innovation.

The difference between wintersweet and plum blossom

Chimonanthus praecox is not a kind of plum, they are close relatives. In plant taxonomy, Chimonanthus praecox belongs to the deciduous shrub Chimonanthaceae, while Prunus mume belongs to Rosaceae. Because they bloom in cold winter or early spring, and the flowers are similar in shape and fragrance, they are often mistaken for the same species. The flowers of Chimonanthus praecox are solitary on both sides of branches, with many perianth, small inner layer, purple color, large middle layer, yellow color, slightly shiny and waxy, the outermost layer is composed of fine scales, and sepals are similar to petals.

Stories and legends of wintersweet

Legend has it that a long time ago, a rare strong wind blew in Bianjing City. The wind is very dark, flying sand and stones, the shops in the capital of Liang City are closed, and the people are geckos. Where the wind passed, trees were broken, walls were destroyed, and even the shadow wall in front of the imperial palace was blown down. Therefore, every move of the emperor and his concubines can be clearly seen by passers-by. The emperor thought it was unsightly and wanted to change the screen immediately, but he was superstitious and thought that the strong wind fell from the sky because the emperor was angry. It destroyed the old wall, but it is not suitable for repairing the wall here. This is providence. If we rebuild on the spot, something will happen. If it is not repaired here, it will hurt the royal and respectable country. The emperor thought and thought, but he didn't come up with any good ideas. The uncompromising monarch in front of the minister was at a loss.

Early the next morning, after the officials paid a memorial service and before the ceremony, the emperor told the ministers about the screen wall and asked them to discuss the solution. The civil and military officials in the Qing Dynasty looked after each other and looked at each other.

After half an hour, the prime minister of Zuo Ban went out and said to the emperor with a smile, "Long live the Lord, I am a worthless official, but I have an idea. I wonder if I can call him my emperor's heart. "

The emperor was very worried about Pipi. As soon as he heard that Prime Minister Zuo had a plan, he nodded to prepare. The Prime Minister was ordered to say, "Long live the Lord, the shadow wall of the bedroom was damaged to comfort the misfortune of the harem, and it is even more impossible to rebuild coins. If you move the Chimonanthus praecox in Yanling to the door of the bedroom, you can hide your eyes and ears on weekdays, avoid shade in summer, enjoy flowers in winter, and the Chimonanthus praecox blooms in the New Year, which is a sign of good luck for the royal family. "

Upon hearing this, the emperor frowned and even called it wonderful, and immediately played it. On the one hand, he sent people to Hou Yuan to host a banquet for the Prime Minister; on the other hand, he sent people out of the province to govern. An imperial envoy immediately rushed to Yanling and ordered the county magistrate of Yanling to pay tribute to Mela in Beijing.

One hundred and sixty miles, an imperial envoy came to the yamen in Yanling County in a few days. After receiving the imperial edict, the Yanling county magistrate did not dare to neglect it, and immediately went out in person, selected a good hundred-year-old Chimonanthus praecox and a gardener who was good at pinching Chimonanthus praecox, and sent it to Bianjing.

Chimonanthus praecox was transported to the palace and planted in front of the bedroom. The gardener felt that the branches were alienated and not very beautiful, so he waved knives and scissors and fiddled with the branches of wintersweet for a while. It was pinched into a screen nearly ten feet high and eight feet wide, just the same size as the original screen wall.

In the severe winter and the twelfth month, it is freezing, and the flowering trees are withered. After a heavy snow, Chimonanthus praecox plants spread their golden buds in the snow and spit out beeswax-like petals toward the sun after the snow.

On this day, the emperor had finished the morning and listlessly came to his concubines to have fun. However, before anyone could get to the bedroom, there was a strong fragrance that was refreshing. When the emperor came to the bedroom, he saw that the blooming wintersweet was like a string of golden bells hanging upside down, shaking slightly in the cold wind, blending with the snow and emitting brilliant golden light. I was suddenly relaxed and happy, and I couldn't help exclaiming loudly: "What a beautiful country, the first flower in the world."

At this time, an unknown long-tailed bird flew in and landed gently on the top branch of Chimonanthus praecox, and several snowflakes fell on the branch. When the emperor saw it, he was very excited about painting. He immediately asked the imperial secretary to fetch Four Treasures of the Study, spread paper and grind ink, and drew a picture of Birds in Chimonanthus praecox by himself. As soon as the imperial edict came out, the imperial garden built Meishan and transplanted 10 thousand wintersweet for the royal family to enjoy.

In this way, the value of Chimonanthus praecox doubled, palace ministers, rich gentry and gentry scrambled to plant Chimonanthus praecox as a mutual gift, and Yanling Chimonanthus praecox became famous for the second time.

The legend of Pulsatilla chinensis

Pulsatilla is a perennial herb of Pulsatilla in Ranunculaceae. It also has two interesting aliases, one is called Maogu Duohua, and the other is called Laofuhua.

Pulsatilla has one characteristic: the whole plant is densely covered with white fluff. Especially its flowers, the calyx looks like petals, and the blue-purple calyx is covered with white fur. Every April and May, medicinal small yellow flowers will be released.

Pulsatilla chinensis grows in the wild in North China, Northeast China, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, waiting for people to dig and use it. What's the use? It turns out that the root of Pulsatilla chinensis can be used as medicine, which has the effect of clearing away heat and detoxifying.

Speaking of which, there is another story about the origin of Pulsatilla.

windflower

Once upon a time, there was a tauren mountain by the lake. There is a village at the foot of the mountain. There is a young man named Po in the village. Po is cheerful, kind-hearted and helpful, and everyone likes him very much.

But one day, Po suddenly had a stomachache. The pain made Po's head and hands and feet cold. At that time, it happened that the neighbors went up the mountain, up the mountain and down the field, and they all went to work, and no one helped. Po was in unbearable pain, so he had to cover his stomach and struggled to find a doctor in a neighboring village. As soon as he got out of the village, he couldn't help it any longer and collapsed on the grass by the side of the road.

I don't know how long it took. Po suddenly woke up and saw a white-haired grandfather standing beside him on crutches. Grandpa asked Po why he was lying on the side of the road. Po replied weakly: My stomach hurts so much that I really can't walk. Grandpa said: then find some medicine to eat. Po said, where can I find it? Grandpa pointed to the grass around Po with a cane. There was a green grass with furry white hair on it. He said that the root of this grass is medicine. You have to dig some and go back to make soup. Just drink it a few times. Po thought: This kind of grass is often seen, and it is everywhere on the hillside. Can it really cure diseases? Grandpa didn't wait for Po to speak, as if he had seen through the doubts in Po's heart. He stroked his beard and said, I am an old man with white hair. Would I lie to you? Then he slowly turned and left.

Po decided to give it a try. He held back the pain and dug up some green grass with white hair on his head. When he got home, he boiled and drank the grass roots, and his stomach didn't hurt much that night. After drinking for three days in a row, I'm all right. When the neighbors came to visit Po, they knew that Po's illness was cured by eating a grass.

Po recovered from his illness and went up the mountain to chop wood again. On this day, Po met the white-haired grandfather on the mountain road to cut wood. Grandpa stood there on crutches, looking from a distance, with a white beard fluttering like a fairy in the mountains. Po hurried forward and said, thank you, grandpa. The medicine you gave me is really good. Just drink it a few times. The white-haired grandfather went over and said, young man, I just want to tell you that this is the secret recipe of my family. I see that you are kind-hearted and willing to help the people in the village. I want to pass it on to the world for me through your mouth. Po nodded in agreement. Grandpa with white hair suddenly disappeared again.

From then on, no matter who is in the village, as long as he has a stomachache, Po will carry a shovel day and night, dig green grass with white fluff on his head in the wild, then fry it with grass roots and give it to the patients when he comes back. After drinking it, the stomachache will be fine.

Someone curiously asked Po what medicine it was and when he learned to treat diseases with herbs. Po is a kind person. He told everyone how he had a stomachache and how he met a white-haired grandfather. People asked where grandpa had gone, and Po regretted it: Yes, why don't you ask where grandpa with white hair lives?

The next day, Po ran to the place where he met his grandfather for the second time, and wanted to thank him again, saying that it would be better to ask him face to face if there was anything in the future. However, Bao waited day after day for half a month, but he didn't see the white-haired grandfather again.

Po is disappointed. He sat by the roadside where he met his grandfather for the second time, staring at many green grasses with long hair on their heads. Suddenly, he saw a beam of light coming from a green grass with white hair on its head. Under the light, the green grass swayed gently with the wind. Po suddenly found out: alas, this grass looks like an old man with white hair and beard! Po knows that this white-haired grandfather is probably a fairy in the South Pole. Have you come down to teach the secret recipe of saving lives and relieving pain? Po also thinks that we should not let future generations forget grandpa who passed on the secret recipe. Since this grass doesn't know its name yet, we might as well call it Pulsatilla. Since then, a kind of Pulsatilla has appeared in the world.

Until today, people still use Pulsatilla as Chinese herbal medicine. You can also make natural arrangements or arrange flower beds in the garden. Beautify the environment.

Hemerocallis and the Legend of Li Shizhen

In the summer of the last year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty, Li Shizhen wore straw sandals and carried a medicine basket. Accompanied by his disciple Pang Xian and his son Jian Yuan, he crisscrossed Shan Ye, visited famous doctors and scholars, collected folk prescriptions, observed and collected medicinal specimens. On this day, the three of them came to a cemetery in Datong County and stayed in a Julebao near Cailiang Mountain. Coincidentally, people in the village are suffering from a strange disease. Their limbs are swollen and weak. They can't work in the fields during the busy farming season. The farmers are worried and helpless. They sought medical treatment everywhere, but they didn't get better.

Hearing that there was a doctor in the village, people reported the idea of getting sick and seeking medical treatment and went to see a doctor for treatment. Li Shizhen sees so many patients, all of them are basically sick, but the severity is different. After careful observation and careful analysis, the three of them think that this is an endemic disease, which is caused by the lack of something in the body. Li Shizhen told everyone: Please don't worry, we can cure everyone's illness. The light one needs to work in the field for three days, and the heavy one needs to fully recover in seven days. Tomorrow, we will go up the mountain to collect medicine and boil it to ensure that it is cured. Everyone is skeptical, and some even say that this may be a few charlatans, and there is little hope.

Early the next morning, Li Shizhen and his party got up early and prepared to go up the mountain to collect herbs. Out of the village, looking around, there are pieces of plants with golden flowers everywhere. Li Shizhen recognized it at a glance. After careful identification, it is not the same as the day lily he has seen, but it is better than what he has seen. It has long horns, thick meat, six petals and seven cores, and golden color. Li Shizhen has always had the habit of tasting herbs. He picked the yellow flowers and chewed them slowly in his mouth, feeling sweet and cool. This is definitely the top grade of day lily. It is effective in treating stranguria, eliminating breast swelling, clearing away heat, inducing diuresis, stopping bleeding, and calming the nerves, especially for tuberous roots. The three of them picked a basket of day lilies and dug a basket of day lilies. It didn't take long for the soup to be made and distributed to patients in various households.

As expected, after three days, some patients with mild symptoms all disappeared and were able to work in the fields. On the seventh day, all the patients in the village were cured. At this time, Li Shizhen turned over the ditches and forks in Cai Liangshan and found many new varieties of medicinal materials, which further enriched his old man's Compendium of Materia Medica.

Li Shizhen and his party saw that people had recovered from illness and quietly left Julebao. When people learned that Li Shizhen had saved their lives, they all shed tears of gratitude and thanked the famous doctor from the bottom of their hearts. Later, people began to plant a large number of day lilies, on the one hand, as vegetables, on the other hand, as medicinal materials for sale. Later, some busybodies voluntarily raised funds extensively and built a Wang Yao Temple on Cai Liang Mountain, where a statue was specially made for Li Shizhen as a memorial to Li Shizhen.

The legend of apricot blossom

According to legend, Xinghua Village was called Wu Xinghua a long time ago. Every year in early spring, apricot blossoms are everywhere outside the village. From a distance, they are like red clouds falling from the sky, very beautiful.

In Wu Xinghua, there was a young man named Dish. He has a big chest and a round waist, and his arm strength is extraordinary. He lives by hunting all the year round. One evening in early summer, Dish came back from hunting in Xiazi Mountain (named after Kong Qiu's disciple Xia Zi taught in the mountain) and was walking through Xinglin when he suddenly heard a deep sob from the depths of Xinglin. He looked for a voice and found a woman crying against a tree, which was very sad.

The kind hunter was busy asking for information, and the girl told her family story with tears. I just found out that my parents died because of the disaster at home, so I went to visit my relatives alone. Who knows, my relatives have passed away, and I have nowhere to live here, crying. Dish looked at the girl's innocent face in Zhang Xinghua and felt sorry for her, so she took her back to the village next door and settled down. Dish took care of her all her life. A few days later, with the consent of the villagers, they got married. After marriage, you love me, my husband sings with his wife, and life is very sweet.

An agricultural proverb says: Wheat turns yellow for a while, and apricots turn yellow all night. Just as the green apricots full of trees and branches were jade yellow and about to mature, it suddenly rained for more than ten days. After a storm comes a calm, the sun of poisonous flowers is damaged, and the yellow apricots cracked by rain fall to the ground. Within a day, baskets of yellow apricots were hot, fermented and almost rotten. The villagers are very anxious, and their faces are covered with clouds.

As night fell, suddenly a faint fragrance came from the village. It has neither flowers nor fruits. Dish pushed open the door and smelled a strange fragrance. I saw my daughter-in-law smiling and scooping up a bowl of water and sending it to her husband. When Dish was hungry, she took a sip and felt a sweet juice go straight through her heart and spleen. At this time, the daughter-in-law said: this is called wine, not water; It is made of fermented apricots. Please try it quickly.

After tasting it, everyone cheered, questioned and tried to follow suit. Since then, Wu Xinghua has a wine shop, and the mellow apricot wine is also famous.

It turns out that this girl is the apricot fairy in Yaochi, the queen mother. She secretly came to earth because she didn't want to be punished by the queen mother. Today, when I saw that the villagers were in trouble, I used fermented apricots to make wine, which solved everyone's urgency. Because the wine she brewed is fragrant in the sky, the queen mother is drooling. Urgent life tripterygium wilfordii Dian Mu tracking capture, pour wine for the upper bound fairy.

One midsummer afternoon, Mother Wang, who found the trail, came to catch apricot fairy herself. Standing on the cloud, she snapped, how dare you offend heaven and steal the dust? It's unforgivable! I miss your hard work in making wine on earth this time. Take the wine back to heaven for the gods to drink. Otherwise, it will turn you into a floating cloud, and you will die both physically and mentally.

Xian Xinghua was not afraid after hearing this, but argued. The queen mother became angry from embarrassment and split out with lightning and thunder. After the thunder and lightning, the fairy Xinghua disappeared.

Since then, the legend of apricot fairy brewing has been passed down from generation to generation in Wu Xinghua. Every year when the apricot blossoms are in full bloom, there will always be a misty spring rain in the village. It is said that it is the tears of the fairy in the sky who misses her loved ones.