A vine with pink and white flowers and strange fruit

Radish is a kind of vine with strong winding ability. Recently, the vine is in full bloom, with pink and white flowers blooming on the vine.

[Metaplexis japonica] Asclepiadaceae Asclepiadaceae > > Ailanthus

Radish is widely distributed, which may be rare in South China and tropical provinces, and can be seen in other provinces. Radish has a strong ability to survive, like weeds, entangled everywhere, even in the city is easy to see.

Therefore, there are many aliases for radish. I have heard of a few of them, such as magnolia, milk rattan, mother-in-law sewing kit, Muggle, sparrow ladle and so on.

Radish

The name of Yi Lan (playing Orchid) comes from the Book of songs. In ancient times, "Yan" is homonym with "vine", and "orchid" refers to vanilla, so Lan Lan says "a kind of trailing vanilla" [2]. Although the ancients thought radish is a kind of vanilla, I don't think it smells good.

Radish flowers, in my sense of smell is odorless, but his nectar may be very delicious, flowering can attract all kinds of insects to come to eat, very lively. The flowers are white and pink with dense villi. At the beginning, the florets are arranged in an umbrella shape, but in the later stage, the umbrella shape will gradually elongate and become like a raceme.

The milk rattan spot understands the radish, as well as one of the major characteristics of the radish family: it has milk. The leaves of radish are heart-shaped and thick in texture. If you pinch its stems and leaves, there will be abundant white milk left immediately, and more can be dripped out.

When it comes to leaves, the veins of radish are also interesting. At first glance, they are shaped like tortoise shells and ribs, arranged on both sides of the main veins, but after a closer look, they are staggered rather than opposite to each other like ribs. His leaves also grow a special kind of bug-radish leaf beetle, the green and golden metallic luster is very charming. [3]

Laurel leaf beetle, picture from animal specimen-Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Mother-in-law sewing bag, Muggle, sparrow ladle and other aliases are all about the fruit of radish. The fruit of radish looks grotesque, generally a shuttle shape, really like a "Muggle", his surface is like a toad, with disturbing protuberances.

But this fruit is unexpectedly eaten, it is said that in the first few days of hanging the fruit, the taste is fresh and tender, with melons-like fragrance.

Tender fruit

Ripe and cracked fruit

I dare not eat it, not because I was frightened by his strange appearance, but because the plants of the Asclepidium family are more or less toxic.

When the fruit is ripe, it will split into two petals, with seeds shaped like dandelions and long white hairs on the flat seeds. This is different from dandelion, dandelion is a plant of Compositae, its "seed" is actually an achene and a fruit, while Luoyang's are real seeds.

At the end of the day, what does the official name Luoyi say? I don't know, and I didn't find it on the Internet.

But I think Luo Xiao is homophonic and lonely. The fruit of radish is really lonely in autumn and winter. All things withered in winter, the radish fruit opened, originally full of seeds gradually scattered away. In the end, there are only two central axes left in the fruit, and nothing else is left.

[1] Materia Medica atlas

[2] Reading notes on plant names, Xia Weiying

[3] Animal specimens-Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Http://museum.ioz.ac.cn/upload/zhuanti/hebeidiaochaheshibie/big/403701.jpg

Author: Jiang SB.

Photo: Jiang SB.

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