Pingpeng grass, a plant for purifying water body

Pingpeng grass, alias golden lotus, Pingpeng lotus, Nymphaeaceae, there are about 25 species, open in early summer, is a very important ornamental plant in summer water garden. Its Latin name adds the word pumilum meaning "dwarf".

Pingpeng grass

Taiwan Pingpeng grass was collected by Japanese botanist Shimada Mi City in 1915 in Hsinpu, Hsinchu Prefecture. Japanese botanist Fenzo Hayada published as a new species in Taiwan's plant atlas in 1916. The species name shimadai is in memory of its collector, Shimada City, and the type specimen (Isotype) is preserved in the Plant Museum of the Forestry Laboratory. The characteristic of this plant is that the leaf shape is nearly round and the back of the leaf has a lot of hair, but it is not easy to see with the naked eye and can only be seen clearly under an anatomical microscope. Secondly, the top of the stigma is split and red on both sides of each lobe, which makes Pingpeng grass in Taiwan more ornamental than other kinds of Pingpeng grass.

Pingpeng grass

Compared with water lilies, most people are unfamiliar with Taiwan's Pingpeng grass, mainly because the number of Taiwan's Pingpeng grass is relatively rare in Taiwan, and it is only distributed in a few ponds in Taoyuan Longtan. Although records have been collected in Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Nantou in the western part of the province, there is a lack of more detailed information, and it is difficult to understand the distribution and quantity of this plant in the past.

Pingpeng grass

Can be potted in the courtyard, buildings, rockery, or placed in front of the room toward the sun. The root has the function of purifying water body. In the barren years, the seeds are edible. The results showed that 3/4 of the CH4 produced in the sediment was released through the branches, and the concentration of CH4 in the roots reached 10% in the daytime, while the concentration in the young branches protruding from the water decreased greatly. Not only the living plant is the main release channel of trace gas, but also the dead plant is the release channel of CH4 and other gases from the sediment. Brix's study showed that dead Reed branches were still the main channel for CH4 release from sediment, and even in winter, the highest CH4 release rate through dead Reed leaves was 64 mL m-2d-1.