Every Spring Festival, all kinds of flowers that set off the beautiful atmosphere of the festival have become one of the most sought-after New Year goods.
One of the flowers is called the dry branch rhododendron, which is only a "dead" branch when it is bought, but it can be inserted in the water for a few days, and the "dead wood blooms in spring" to produce red and gorgeous flowers.
However, this flower began to be sought after and eventually criticized because it looked very beautiful on the surface, but behind it hid the secrets of illegal traders, and even suspected of breaking the law.
What is Rhododendron dried?
The so-called dry branch rhododendron is actually the branch of the Xing'an rhododendron.
Xing'an rhododendron is born in the mountains of northeast China, and we are familiar with Yingshan red (rhododendron) is a relative, there are some similarities, it is a semi-evergreen shrub, the plant height of about one or two meters, the leaves are oval, the flowers are open first, funnel-shaped, pink or purple-red, mainly distributed in heilongjiang (Daxing'anling), Inner Mongolia, Jilin and other places on the mainland, often growing in mountain larch forests, birch forests or forest edges.
In the northeast of the mainland, winters are unusually cold and very long, and the Xing'an rhododendron is the first flower to bloom in the field when winter comes to spring.
It is spread throughout the mountains, the flowers are flourishing, the colors are bright, giving people who have just passed the cold winter the hope of spring, and are regarded as the messengers of spring, a symbol of auspiciousness, happiness, steadfastness and beauty.
There is also a more familiar name for the Xing'an rhododendron, Jindalai, which is a Transliteration of the Korean word for "Jindalai" and includes the Xing'an rhododendron and some similar species.
Why does the dried-branched rhododendron "dry wood in spring"?
The flowering period of Xing'an Rhododendron is from May to June every year, because the habitat is extremely cold, so before the cold winter of the previous year, its flowers have completed their gestation and entered a dormant state to spend the cold winter until the spring is warm.
The Xing'an rhododendron branches picked before the Spring Festival, the buds on them have long been developed, are in a dormant state, at this time as long as the temperature is suitable, sufficient water, the use of their own stored nutrients, barely can maintain the opening of the flowers, which has become the mouth of the merchants said "dead wood spring".
However, unlike the Xing'an rhododendron, which is native to the land, although these branches also bloom, they cannot pollinate, but only the nutrients are exhausted into real "dry branches" and thrown into the trash can.
Is rhododendron dried to be a protected plant?
Xing'an rhododendrons originally grew carefree in the mountains, but who would have thought that some merchants cut off their branches, eliminated the cost of planting, packaged them into affordable "dry branches of rhododendrons", and then far-fetched "dead wood in spring", and after some speculation, they were popular among consumers in the unknown.
Under the trend of huge interests, wild Xing'an rhododendrons have been wildly indiscriminately harvested and logged, and their resources have been drastically reduced.
As you may know, plants in cold areas grow very slowly, and according to analysis, the branches sold to consumers have been growing for seven or eight years, so once the wild Xing'an rhododendron resources are destroyed, it will be very long and difficult to recover.
People soon realized this harm, and some plant protection experts and popular science writers called for the protection of the wild Xing'an rhododendron through the media.
It is also for this reason and background that in September 2021, the State Forestry and Grassland Administration and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs newly promulgated the "Directory of Wild Plants under National Key Protection", and the Xing'an Rhododendron has been listed as a national second-level key protected plant.
With the prohibition of relevant laws and the opposition of mainstream public opinion, the trade of "dried branches and rhododendrons" has been gradually curbed, and the resources of Xing'an rhododendrons have been effectively protected, but there are still a small number of illegal businesses "exploiting loopholes".
Some merchants renamed it dried plum, dried peach, etc. to evade supervision, but the photos they provided are still selling Xing'an rhododendron; some merchants also claim to be artificial cultivation, but there is no mature Xing'an rhododendron artificial cultivation, and almost all of the sales on the market are wild pirated.
As an ordinary consumer, when there is a demand for flowers to buy during the spring, it is necessary to consciously eliminate the purchase of dried rhododendrons, on the one hand, there are many choices, such as dried branches of snow willow, rhododendron, cyclamen, phalaenopsis orchid, large flower orchid, melon leaf chrysanthemum and other artificially cultivated beautiful flowers to choose from; on the other hand, can not endanger the natural environment, but also can not violate the relevant laws of the country, so I hope that everyone will not buy dried rhododendron again.
There is no harm in buying and selling, please do not let them leave their homes and lie in the trash can, remember that the wild Xing'an rhododendron is only in the mountains of the northeast, the most beautiful, the most colorful.
Source: Popular Science China