Water lily bowl lotus meridian water celery flower

Scientific name: Nymphaeatetragona

Aliases: meridian lotus, water celery flower

Family and genus: Nymphaeaceae

Distribution and source of scientific names:

Water lily is a general term for the genus Nymphaea of the family Nymphaeaceae. There are 50 species of water lilies in the world and 5 species in China. According to its ecological characteristics, water lilies can be divided into two categories: cold tolerance and non-cold tolerance. The former is distributed in subtropical and temperate regions, while the latter is distributed in tropical regions.

In ancient Egypt, water lilies, like Chinese lotus flowers, were regarded as the embodiment of holiness and beauty, and were often used as sacrifices to goddesses. In the New Testament, there is also a saying that "holy things come out of the mud without being stained."

Morphological features:

The rhizome is horizontal, thick and short, cylindrical, and longitudinally distributed with a number of round holes of different sizes. Leaves overgrown, floating on the water, round, oval, heart-shaped. Peanuts bloom from July to August at the tip of the slender pedicel.

Place of origin:

Native to tropical Asia and Oceania.

Growth habits:

The optimum temperature during the growing period is 20 Mel and 30 ℃. It grows fast and blossoms early in strong light. Shallow water is suitable for fear of flooding and strong wind.

Beautiful color, flowers, leaves are fragrant, a wide variety, there are single, double, but also thousand-petal lotus, Chongtai lotus and so on. In the family to pot or pot, suitable for the layout of balconies, courtyards.

Belongs to the positive plant, likes the abundant sunlight, the light is insufficient, the lotus leaf only grows and reduces the green, cannot conceive the bud, generally can be maintained in the full sunshine courtyard or on the outer edge of the south balcony. But it should be noted that bowl lotus delicate, summer noon should avoid the scorching sun, move to a shady place, and indoor flower appreciation, display time should not be too long, not more than 3 days at a time.

Developments at home and abroad:

Chinese botanists pay less attention to water lilies than lotus flowers. Foreign botanists are quite concerned about this. As early as 150 years ago, French botanists successfully cultivated dozens of cultivated varieties, some of which have spread so far and have made great contributions to ornamental horticulture.

In 1912, under the guidance of George GeorgPring, the Missouri Botanical Garden carried out water lily breeding and cultivated a large number of ideal varieties. Up to now, the varieties of water lilies cultivated by American botanists are still second to none in quantity and quality. every year, more than a dozen varieties are registered, registered and listed on the market. in addition, a large number of water lily monographs continue to be published. their work has gradually attracted the attention of the botanical community. Chinese botanists do not pay enough attention to the research work of water lilies, and for many years they only stay in the stage of variety collection, and the breeding work is still a blank in China. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Beijing Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences introduced several tropical varieties, which have been preserved to this day; in 1983, the Nanjing Botanical Garden introduced 17 cold-tolerant varieties from the Washington Arboretum in the United States, but failed to cultivate new varieties; at the end of the 1990s, Wuhan Botanical Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences came from behind, collected more than 50 varieties, and published the introduction and cultivation of water lilies, which was published in the Collection of articles on Plant introduction and domestication. In recent years, researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Botanical Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Beijing Botanical Garden have begun to breed water lilies, and it is expected that a number of new varieties will be put on the market after 2023, making Chinese water lilies like lotus flowers to the world.

The miniature bowl lotus was cultivated as an aquatic ornamental flower in the Han Dynasty in China, and developed to pot cultivation in the Tang Dynasty, and then from pot cultivation to bowl cultivation, that is, using a smooth bowl as a container to cultivate lotus flowers, equipped with tree stumps, placed on the balcony, elegant and chic, with a strong flavor of life.

I. Variety selection

When raising bowl lotus in the family, we should choose varieties with flower diameter less than 10 cm, plant height not super-high 30 cm, standing leaf diameter about 20 cm, and more than 5 flowers.

The common traditional bowl lotus varieties are "table lotus", "Xiamen bowl lotus", "Jinbian bowl lotus", "bowl red", "heavy water bloom", "welcome hibiscus" and so on. In recent years, the new varieties are "desk spring", "snow white", "baby red", "love summer", "singing autumn", "youth" and so on.

II. Container specifications

Different sizes of containers have great influence on the growth and development of lotus cultivation. According to the research and experiment of the relevant garden department, the container with a caliber of 20m and a depth of 15m is the most suitable for raising bowl lotus.

III. Application of water lilies in gardens and rooms

Water lilies were used in gardens for a long time, and they were used as the theme material of waterscape gardens in Italy in the 16th century. Two thousand years ago, water lilies also appeared in Chinese Han Dynasty and private gardens. Sleeping lotus has beautiful leaves, rich flowers and colors, long flowering period, and is deeply loved by people. the root of water lily can absorb lead, mercury, phenol and other toxic substances in water, so it is a rare plant material for water purification, so it has been paid more and more attention in urban water purification, greening and beautification construction.

All kinds of water lilies, or potted plants or pond plants, are often planted in the garden waterscape in the north and south of the Yangtze River for people to enjoy. Ponds are divided into natural pools and man-made pools. Because of its irregular shape, large water surface, deep water level and no drainage port irrigation system, the natural pool should first be reformed according to the situation to plant varieties tolerant to deep water. in order to avoid variety confusion, it can be divided into several districts, one variety in each district. This kind of large area planting, when the growth is exuberant, can present magnificent landscape. Artificial pool, concrete structure, different shapes, can be designed according to the requirements. The drainage and irrigation system is good and the water level can be controlled. This kind of pool can be submerged in pots, and the waterscape materials can be placed flexibly, which is easy to design and adjust. For example, with water lilies as the theme, with king lotus, Euryale seed, lotus, pickle, cattail, iris and other materials, put them in different ways. Will have different waterscape effects. In addition to pond planting, but also combined with the needs of the landscape, the selection of exquisite cylinder basin, placed in front of buildings, sculptures, rockery stones, can often receive unexpected special effects. The miniature variety in the water lily can be used to decorate the room and plant it in an elegant small basin, coupled with a delicate and elegant pot rack, placed in the right position, then this little life, green leaves, delicate buds, looming fragrance, in the indoor light bath, and other indoor decoration into fun, pleasing to the eye.

IV. Garden management

Water lilies belong to long sunshine plants, the planting place should be well lit and well ventilated. Water lilies in different growth stages also have certain requirements on the water level, potted open-air display, shallow water at the initial stage, full of water in the heyday. The pot was submerged, and the initial water did not pass through the edge of the basin slightly; with the growth of leaves, the water level gradually increased, and the water surface was about 20 to 30 cm away from the basin; in its heyday, the water surface was 30 to 50cm from the edge of the basin. Planting water lilies in the pond, entering the rainy season, the water depth is more than 1 meter, it should be drained in time. In the early growth stage of potted water lilies, the bottom fertilizer is sufficient and there is no need to topdressing. In order to promote flower bud differentiation, quick-acting potassium dihydrogen phosphate should be applied (use absorbent paper, wrap fertilizer, 5 grams in a package, 2 packets in each tank, and several holes can be pierced on the package. Insert it under the rhizome along the basin wall, once a semimonthly, 3 to 4 times in a row). As long as there is a fertile silt layer at the bottom of the pond, there is no need to top fertilizer. Attention should be paid to the removal of weeds, dead leaves and algae in the pond. Too much algae, can spray 0.3% to 0.5% copper sulfate solution, once a month, several times in a row, can play a certain control role. Protected by overwintering, potted plants can be cellar. For cold-tolerant varieties, the cellar temperature is 0 to 5 ℃, and for tropical varieties, the cellar temperature should be kept at 10 to 15 ℃ to avoid freezing damage. When planted in a pond, cold-tolerant varieties can survive the winter under the ice at the bottom of the pool, while tropical varieties can plant balls in a pool in the north and preserve them in a greenhouse of 10 to 15 ℃, using the sand accumulation method until they are warmed and planted the following year.

Pest control: during the growing period, aphids can be sprayed with 45% dimethoate 1000 times diluent; snails harm tender buds and leaves, and the effect of drug control is not good. Biological control methods can be used to control the spread of pests. Ducks, @ # @ 237 birds @ can restrain the spread of pests.