Hello!
Today we will tell you about a plant whose flowers are often confused with the flowers
of other plants.
Let's talk about the lotus.
"Oh, what beautiful lotuses!"
- we sometimes hear and see ... a water lily.
And the thing is that lotuses, despite the fact that everyone knows about them, few have
seen.
In Russia, you can see wild lotus plantations on the Taman Peninsula, in the Astrakhan region,
in the Far East, and that’s it.
Unlike water lilies, lotuses have large flowers, up to 30 cm in diameter.
The stalk of lotuses is high, towering above the water.
The lotus plant (Nelumbo Nucifera) is one of those plants where every part of it is
edible.
Roots are a delicacy among many peoples of Asia.
Rhizomes are eaten raw, boiled, fried, pickled for the winter.
Flour is also obtained from them.
Soup is boiled from the roots, starch and oil are obtained.
The flower is used both as a savory filling after drying and for making excellent tea.
They even eat stamens.
The seeds are eaten both raw and roasted.
They are also the main ingredient in many South Asian curries.
The leaves, and sometimes the stem, are also steamed with spices or herbs and eaten like
asparagus.
Nut-bearing lotus is the most revered flower in the countries of Asia and the East.
The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans considered it sacred.
According to the myth, the plant appeared from the unrequited love of a water nymph
for Hercules.
There are several types of lotus - yellow American, Nile white, red oriental, walnut
(pink lotus).
A perennial herbaceous amphibian plant is a native of Asia with a tropical climate,
India, Japan, China.
Lotus, as a rule, grows in a hot tropical climate in low-flowing water bodies - in wetlands,
lakes and slow-flowing rivers.
Interestingly, in dry years, the lotus, along with other amphibious plants, often finds
itself on land, but continues to grow and develop normally.
Flowers have a light color, depending on the species: white, yellow, pink, etc.
The most expensive is the lotus, also known as the double lotus, consisting of 2 flowers
blooming on the same stem.
When the flower opens, it loses its petals and then develops into a lotus calyx, thus
producing two sepals on one branch.
This type of lotus is very rare, so small traders in Asian countries sell it at a high
price.
It costs from 150,000 to 300,000 Vietnamese dong per branch (with our money from 500 to
1000 rubles).
Lotus seeds are drupes, no larger than plums, round in shape, very tasty, reminiscent of
a nut.
This plant symbolizes the past, present and future, because it has buds, flowers and seeds
at the same time.
It belongs to rare relic species, and there is an opinion that if a person had not begun
to cultivate it artificially, it would not have survived to this day.
In some countries, this flower is considered sacred.
Once people could only observe the amazing properties of the lotus and explain them by
divine intervention.
And how ancient people should not be surprised that plants always remain clean or can close
a flower at night.
Now some properties of the lotus have been studied, but scientists continue to work and
hope for sensational discoveries.
Lotus refers to a species of aquatic perennial herbaceous plants, the petioles of which grow
to a height of 150 centimeters, and the rhizomes extend 3 meters in length.
Lotuses appeared on Earth a very long time ago, approximately in the Tertiary period.
This is the period of time from the extinction of the dinosaurs to the last ice age.
In the lotus, the receptacle grows strongly and each fruit is in a separate section.
This box remains on the surface of the water.
And of course, the lotus can only grow where the summer is long and the sun is very plentiful.
On the territory of Russia, the plant is found in the Caspian region.
The locals call the lotus the Chulpan rose, after the name of the Chulpan Bay.
This is where the plant is most commonly found.
It grows in shallow waters with well-heated water, and in the years of river shallowing,
it also survives on land.
An interesting fact, one bud from birth to wilting lives only three days.
In the Caspian climate, these flowers never freeze, even in cold winters.
The lotus growing in the Volga Delta is slightly different from the typical lotus.
In the Caspian lotus, the middle of the flower is yellowish-whitish and only the edges of
the petals are colored pink, while in the typical walnut lotus, the petals are completely
pink.
In the Far East of Russia, another variety of lotus grows, which is called the Komarov
lotus.
This lotus grows here as a relic species, that is, it has been preserved from the time
when the climate in the area was warmer.
Komarov's lotus is the most cold-loving - none of its relatives on the planet grows so close
to the permafrost zone.
Lotus Komarov is listed in the Red Books of Russia and Primorsky Krai.
In the countries of Southeast Asia, the lotus has long been used as a vegetable.
The fact is that the rhizome of this plant is rich in starch, and when boiled, it tastes
like celery or swede.
Lotus rhizomes have an amazing shape.
For cooking, they are usually cut into slices, and aerenchyma, the air-bearing tissue of
the plant, gives them beauty in slices.
Thanks to her, the lotus can live in water.
The stem of the plant is short and in the ground, and
the petioles, which are often mistaken for a stem, are up to 2 meters long and are usually
covered with small spikes.
The lotus develops 3 types of leaves: surface, floating and underwater.
Lotus has a number of features that people used to notice, but could not explain.
Lotus leaves have one amazing property.
They always stay clean.
Water rolls off the leaves, carrying dust and algae with it.
The fact is that the surface of the leaves is covered with a dense wax coating, which
is produced in the glands of the plant.
Water droplets simply cannot catch on the sheet and roll off it.
In the morning, dew can be seen on the surface of the leaves, which collects in the center.
The lotus effect was discovered by the German botanist Wilhelm Barthlott in the 1990s, although
the properties of lotus leaves have long been known.
Previously, it was thought that only a smooth surface can be absolutely clean, but it turned
out that small roughness also ensures cleanliness.
This principle formed the basis for the creation of some paint and varnish coatings.
The lotus has another property that attracts people's attention.
The flower is constantly facing the sun, as if following it.
Scientifically, this phenomenon is called heliotropism.
American researcher Jane Shen-Miller sprouted a lotus nut and caused a real sensation.
It would seem that this is surprising, because landing is a process that is generally simple,
but it's all about the nut.
Jane took the lotus fruit, which had lain at the bottom of a dried-up reservoir for
1288 years and yet it had not lost its germination.
Scientists managed to isolate an enzyme that eliminates damage that accumulates in cellular
protein structures.
This enzyme was as active in the ancient seed as it was in the newly ripened one.
Now scientists are studying the mechanisms that prevent the aging of lotus seeds and
hope that it will be possible to genetically transfer this property to humans.
After the lotus petals fall off, a box with seeds ripens in the middle of the bud.
After that, it begins to descend to the water, and then bursts, and lotus seeds the size
of a hazelnut are thrown into the water.
They usually sink to muddy bottoms and can grow almost immediately or be stored for a
long time.
The lotus fruit is a nut-like seed, oblong-ovoid in shape.
In appearance, they resemble dark olives the size of a hazelnut in a strong peel.
The strength of the seed is important for long-term storage.
To understand what type of plant the lotus belongs to, its seed helps, since the embryo
has two lateral cotyledons; hence the name - dicotyledonous.
Today, lotus cultivation is becoming a profitable business.
So, in the north of Vietnam, farmers collect lotus seeds in vast lotus swamps.
In the commune of Chuen Ngoai, about 20 families grow lotuses, each of which owns about four
to five hectares.
It seems that lotuses are defenseless and delicate flowers.
But in fact, they turn out to be insidious and harmful plants, because stems with small
thorns are hidden under beautiful buds.
As soon as you touch the stem, the thorns break off and get stuck in the skin for a
long time, causing itching.
It's almost impossible to get them all out.
So to collect lotus seeds, farmers in high rubber boots and gloves wade through sticky
mud and through densely planted lotuses.
The period from May to July according to the lunar calendar is considered the main time
for collecting lotus seeds.
During this period, farmers get up early.
At 5 o'clock in the morning, they head to the lotus swamps to collect lotus seed pods.
The seeds are harvested when the flowers reach full maturity with properly matured seed heads.
Seeds harvested at this stage are called "brown-skinned seeds" after drying.
The seeds pop out of the lotus pods on their own once the pods are completely dry.
For this reason, they are called "flying seeds" in the southern regions of the United States.
Usually, the entire farmer's family is involved in the harvesting process, from collecting
lotus seeds to peeling its skin and removing the seed germ.
Seeds are sometimes harvested from green seed heads when they are almost fully mature.
These seeds are commercially known as "white seeds" in their dried form.
The lotus pods are then transported home and separated from each other to keep them fresh.
Locals can earn hundreds of millions of dong every season selling lotus seeds, which is
5-7 times more than selling rice.
Therefore, in recent years, more and more areas previously allocated for planting rice
are being used for growing lotus.
This is due to both economic feasibility and the climatic possibilities of the region.
Of course, there are also difficulties, we should not forget about this.
If there is little rain, there may be a lot of empty seeds in ripened fruits, and profits
will decrease accordingly, there will be less planting material for the next year.
However, each season, one farmer's family can collect up to 100 kg of lotus seeds.
Usually, farmers use special knives to free the seeds from the upper shell of the sepals.
Wholesale buyers usually come to the fields to pick up freshly harvested lotus seeds and
take them to the markets.
It is known that from one kilogram of fresh lotus seeds, after final cleaning and removal
of the green sprout from the middle of the seed, which is of particular importance in
medicine, about 500 grams of pure seeds remain for sale.
Powder from the green sprout extracted from the middle of the lotus seed is traditionally
used in oriental folk medicine.
This is an excellent mild sedative that cures insomnia and is used to restore the body from
sun or heat stroke.
Lotus seeds are an exquisite ingredient in Vietnamese cuisine.
It can be used to prepare various cereals and other dishes.
The seeds, which taste like beans, are served as a dessert and are also added to popular
sweet soups.
In addition to the pleasant taste, lotus seeds help lower blood cholesterol levels and treat
several diseases, including fatty liver.
Farmers understand that lotus seeds and lotus in general are nutritious and healthy foods,
so they never use pesticides or stimulant powders so that consumers can enjoy the safest
and tastiest product.
In addition to collecting seeds, farmers also collect lotus rhizomes.
This is a very tedious, exhausting job.
The farmer selects a strong lotus stem and rips off its roots with gloved hands.
In silty soil, from 5 to 7 rhizomes depart from the lotus stem.
Appeared from the ground, they look ugly.
But if they are well washed in water, then an attractive light grayish-red body is found,
riddled with concentric holes.
Such juicy rhizomes can be consumed raw.
They can also be stewed with pork or juiced.
Rhizomes are added to salads and put in rich pork soups.
Pickled roots can be used as a crunchy pickle for mashed potatoes.
For five or six roots, farmers earn up to two US dollars.
Lotus in Vietnam is a practically waste-free production.
Pond owners make a profit not only from seeds, but also from the sale of flowers.
The yellow stamens and petals are used to make an aromatic tea believed to have a wide
range of health benefits.
The leaves are also used medicinally and are also wrapped in green rice.
Another property has a lotus, which few people know about.
It turns out that it is possible to produce fabric from it using the fine fibers of the
lotus stem.
Lotus silk is one of the rarest fabrics in the world.
It is a natural fiber produced in small quantities in Cambodia, Myanmar and most recently Vietnam.
It can only be
mined by a few skilled craftsmen around the world.
Making this "silk" is not easy.
Extracting enough lotus silk for one scarf can take two months, and the final product
can cost up to 10 times more than regular silk.
It takes about 4,000 lotus stems to produce a
small neckerchief, about 40,000 stems for a large scarf, and up to 220,000 stems and
10 days of continuous work to make a complete set of monastic clothes.
Lotus fabric is obtained in texture similar to silk, very soft, light, breathable and
almost waterproof by its nature.
It cools in hot weather and warms in cold.
That's all.
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