This is the "New Year's Eve dinner" in the plant world. How many of you know about it?

The winter snow arrived as promised, covering the earth. I sent a message to the world, inviting the snow to celebrate the Spring Festival of the Year of the Rabbit, listening to my family's mumblings, and making wishes for the years to come.

New Year's Eve is coming soon. The most important thing on New Year's Eve is to cook and enjoy the New Year's Eve dinner with your family and share the joy of reunion. But did you know that the plant world also has its own " New Year's Eve dinner ", and it has everything from staple food, delicious dishes, desserts, etc.

Below we select some plants and introduce this feast to you based on their names and dietary benefits.

Part 1

A staple food that satisfies your stomach - Spartina

(Photo credit: PPBC Photographer: Rong Cheng)

Spartina anglica Hubb. is a perennial upright herbaceous plant of the genus Spartina in the Poaceae family. It is native to Europe and is an excellent seaside pioneer plant. It is salt-tolerant and flood-tolerant, with upright stalks that grow densely in clumps. The height of Spartina anglica varies with the growing environment. Miniature Spartina anglica is only 10 cm tall, while tall ones can grow up to 120 cm. The anthers are yellow, about 5 mm long, and the stigma is white and feathery. Its fruit is a caryopsis containing one seed, and the pericarp and seed coat are fused together when mature.

The naming of Spartina has a history. According to records, Spartina is a natural hybrid of Spartina townsendii H. et J. Goroves in 1880, but unfortunately it is infertile. It was not until 1956 that CE Hubbard proposed at the Spartina Special Symposium of the British Association for the Advancement of Science that Spartina can produce seeds to pass on the family line, so in 1968, the seed-bearing variety was officially named Spartina anglica Hubbard after him.

Part 2

The staple food that satisfies you: the breadfruit tree

Breadfruit

(Image source: China Plant Theme Database)

The breadfruit tree ( Artocarpus altilis (Parkinson) Fosberg ) is an evergreen tree of the genus Artocarpus in the family Moraceae, 10-15 meters tall, with gray-brown, thick bark and huge leathery leaves. The mature leaves are pinnate-shaped. The fruiting period lasts up to 9 months, and it can produce more than 200 delicious "breadfruits" a year.

Its name is not in vain. As a woody food plant, its fruit is rich in starch, which we often call carbohydrates. Roasted breadfruit is soft and delicious and is often used as a staple food in many tropical regions.

According to records, in the mid-18th century, the famous breadfruit tree successfully solved the famine problem in the West Indies. The breadfruit tree is native to the Pacific Islands, India, and the Philippines; it is also cultivated in Taiwan and Hainan in my country.

Part 3

The staple food that satisfies you

Does the name of rice dumpling grass make you drool? But in fact, rice dumpling grass has little to do with the steaming rice dumpling we eat.

(Photo source: xiachufang.com)

(Photo credit: PPBC, photographer: Zhao Hong)

Commelina benghalensis Linn. , also known as match head, bamboo leaf vegetable, and round-leaved communis, is a perennial (can live for more than two years) herbaceous plant of the Commelinaceae family and the Commelina genus. It blooms from July to October. When the flowers bloom, they display round petals like blue Buddha flames, and after blooming they look like a duck's little feet (Note: "跖" means "foot").

Rice bag grass grows in wetlands below 2,300 meters above sea level and is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia and Africa. It can be found in North my country, East China, South China, etc. In addition to its small and cute flowers, rice bag grass also has certain medicinal value.

Part 4

A filling staple food - rice flower

(Photo credit: PPBC Photographer: Yi Kenan (left) Zhou Jianjun (right))

Rice flower ( Vacciniuim sprengelii (G. Don) Sleumer ) is a plant of the genus Vaccinium in the family Ericaceae. It was originally called Jiangnan blueberry, and is also known as summer spinach, sheep's bean rice, small three-tendon tree, black rice tree, glutinous rice, and southern candle. Rice flower is an evergreen shrub or small tree that grows in hillside thickets or mixed woods at an altitude of 180-1600 meters. It is distributed in Southeast Asia and south to the New Hebrides Islands in the South Pacific. In China, it is mainly distributed in East China and South China, with only a few distributed in the southwest.

Although this plant is called glutinous rice or rice flower, which sounds sweet and sticky, its taste is recorded as "sour, astringent, and neutral" in "New Edition of Materia Medica". If you particularly like sweet food, you may not be able to accept this sour and astringent glutinous rice.

Part.5

Good tea for nourishing lungs - frangipani

(Photo credit: PPBC Photographer: Li Guangmin)

(Photo credit: PPBC, photographer Wang Kezhi)

Plumeria rubra L. , also known as Burmese gardenia, egg yolk flower, and big season flower, is a deciduous small tree of the Apocynaceae family and the genus Plumeria. It is about 5 meters tall and can reach up to 8 meters tall. Its fleshy branches are thick and have rich latex. The leaves of Plumeria are thick and papery, and the cymes are terminal. The outside of the corolla is white, and the outside of the corolla tube and the left side of the outside of the lobes have slightly light red spots. The flowering period is from May to October, and it rarely bears fruit.

Plumeria is native to Mexico and is now widely planted in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia. It is cultivated in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Fujian and other provinces in my country. People in Guangdong and Guangxi often pick its flowers, dry them and make tea, which not only moisturizes the mouth, but also has the effect of moistening the lungs.

Part 6

No meat, no love - sausage tree

(Photo credit: PPBC Photographer: Yuan Huabing (left) and Zhu Xinxin (right))

The sausage tree ( Cassia fistula L. ), also known as the abalone, ox horn tree and Persian soapberry, is a deciduous small or medium tree of the genus Cassia in the Fabaceae family. It can grow up to 15 meters in height. It is native to India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. It was introduced to China during the Tang Dynasty and is currently cultivated in various provinces and regions in southern and southwestern China.

It is called the sausage tree because its fruits (pods) hang on high branches after ripening, which looks like sausages hung outdoors in winter. Its fruits not only look "plump", but also have a lot of "content". The cylindrical pods can hold 40-100 seeds.

The sausage tree is a typical performative tree - ESFP. When the flowers bloom, they are as golden as stars in the sky. When the flowers fall, it is like a golden shower. When the fruits are produced, the tree is full of plump sausages. It is hard not to notice it.

Part 7

Small taste - Houttuynia

(Photo credit: PPBC, taken by Liu Xiang)

Houttuynia cordata Thunb. is named after its fishy smell. Its full name is jí cài, a herbaceous plant of the Saururaceae family and the genus Houttuynia. It is also called folded ear root, stinky grass, pig nose bridge, stinky dog ​​ear, etc. Although it is called differently in different places, it is really stinky, so it is definitely rated as the stinky food for the New Year's Eve dinner, just like stinky tofu. People who like it can't put it down, but for those who don't like it, they feel wronged by their noses after smelling it.

Ordinary people often regard Houttuynia cordata as an indispensable delicacy: the main edible plant root can be stir-fried, mixed with cold dishes, stewed in soup, or used as medicine. Houttuynia cordata is mainly distributed in Europe, North America, eastern and southeastern Asia, and in southern provinces and cities in my country.

Part 8

A good dish to go with wine - Buddleja

(Photo credit: PPBC, photographer Chen Yousheng)

Buddleja lindleyana Fort. is a shrub of the genus Buddleja in the family Loganiaceae. It has purple flowers with an aromatic smell. It blooms from April to October and fruits from August to April of the following year. It likes to grow on mountain roadsides, riverside bushes or forest edges at an altitude of 200-2700 meters.

The whole plant of Buddleija sutchuenensis is slightly toxic. When crushed and thrown into the river, it can anesthetize live fish and make them easier to catch, so it is called "Buddleija sutchuenensis". The flowers, leaves and roots of Buddleija sutchuenensis have medicinal value. In addition, it can also be used as a pure natural pesticide to kill wheat midges, borers and mosquito larvae. Buddleija sutchuenensis is distributed in East my country and South China.

Part 9

Delicious seafood - shrimp dishes

Shrimp roe vegetable (left) Shrimp roe cauliflower (right)

(Photo credit: PPBC, photographer Zhou Xinxin)

As the name suggests, shrimpweed lives in water like shrimps. It is a submerged herb that grows in ponds, lakes, slow-flowing rivers and ditches in Guangdong, Guangxi and other places.

Nechamandra alternifolia (Roxburgh ex R. Wight) Thwaites is a plant of the genus Nechamandra in the family Lythraceae. It has unisexual flowers and dioecious plants. The male flower bracts are ovate, with 60-100 male flowers in the bract, and the anthers are gathered into a ball at the top; the female flower is a spathe, which is tubular and white, with only one female flower in the bract. From September to October every year, the male and female flowers will quietly bloom in the water, spending a brilliant life in a small world that we don't notice.

Part 10

Greedy snacks - glutinous rice sticks

(Photo credit: PPBC, photographer Liu Bing)

Abelia chinensis R. Br. , also known as tea tree strips, is a shrub of the genus Abelia in the family Caprifoliaceae.

It is called glutinous rice strips because its flower has a cylindrical calyx tube, white to red corolla, and five petals curled outward, which looks very much like the glutinous rice strips fried by grandma during the Chinese New Year. The flowering period of glutinous rice strips is from July to August every year. If you want to see glutinous rice strips "just out of the pot", you still have to go to the mountains at an altitude of 170-1500 meters in various places south of the Yangtze River in my country in summer to look for flowers and explore the secrets.

At the turn of the year, we would like to present a New Year's Eve dinner from the plant world, with a combination of meat and vegetables, main dishes, side dishes, staple foods, snacks, as well as egg apples, egg yolk fruits, day lilies... It is so rich, the whole family will celebrate the New Year happily!

Produced by: Science Popularization China

Editor: Sun Chenyu

Author: Li Tong (Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Reviewer: Li Chengsen (Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Producer: China Science Expo

The article only represents the author's views and does not represent the position of China Science Expo

This article was first published in China Science Expo (kepubolan)

Please indicate the source of the public account when reprinting

Please indicate the source of the reprint. Reprinting without authorization is prohibited.

For reprint authorization, cooperation, and submission matters, please contact [email protected]