Want to raise this kind of "golden retriever"? Warning: life imprisonment!

Golden Retriever, my dream dog, tall and gentle.

However, the kind of "golden dog" that I want to talk about today that cannot be raised is not this one, but a fern called "golden dog fern".

As for what I said about spending life in prison, it is not an exaggeration. Look, it is clearly written here.

CITES is the Scientific Committee on Endangered Species of the People's Republic of China

The oldest descendant of plants

The question is, why is the golden dog fern, a good plant, named after an animal?

Golden Fern is also called Golden Monkey Fern, which sounds more expensive. It is conceivable that its name comes from the commonality of these two small animals - golden smooth hair. Golden Fern also has golden hair, and the golden hair grows on the base of its petiole and rhizome, which does look a bit like the head of a big golden retriever.

Thick and smooth hair (bushi)

Image from: wiki

People who want to take it home as a potted plant do not want to admire its "dog head" but its leaves, which extend from the "dog head" and are pinnate-shaped three times, and can grow up to 1.8 meters. Stretched and upright, they perfectly show the symmetrical and neat beauty of ferns.

Of course, no matter how beautiful it is, it is not the potted plant we should own.

Image from: wiki

However, we can still learn about other ferns. The leaves of most common ferns are not as large as those of golden dog ferns, but they are also symmetrical, flat, and graceful like feathers. Whether they appear in Nordic-style paintings or are made into specimens, they are full of style.

But in real life, ferns have little presence. Perhaps it is because they prefer warm, humid and shaded forest environments, and they are not as tall as trees, nor do they have flowers that attract attention.

Ferns also have a very simple name "ferns"

Ferns can reproduce both sexually and asexually. We often see ferns in the asexual reproduction stage, which is their "spore body". At this stage, ferns will grow roots, stems and leaves, which are the common perennial herbaceous ferns. The reproduction method is the same as that of fungi that are not plants - spore reproduction.

Some friends who grow ferns have found two neat rows of small round balls on the back of the leaves and are very worried that they are parasitic insect eggs. In fact, they are sporangia containing the next generation of ferns. After the sporangium turns brown, the spores will fly out and grow under suitable conditions.

I found a less scary one.

During their sexual reproduction stage, the spores grow into prothallus, differentiate into antheridia and archegonium for sexual reproduction.

Show you a PPT to quickly understand the life history of ferns

The picture comes from the Internet

In the plant kingdom, ferns are the first plant group to adapt to land and grow vascular tissue. Starting from the first naked ferns that "landed" on land, ferns gradually differentiated into roots, stems and leaves, and in the continuous evolution, they gained a foothold on land.

They once dominated the continent, just like the fungi in Hayao Miyazaki's animated film "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind", where their spores flew, they took root and grew luxuriantly. The appearance of ferns has also been preserved in fossils, allowing us to glimpse the mysteries of ancient times.

It is true that he spent his whole life in prison

Nowadays, some species of ferns have long lost their glory and even face the risk of extinction in the wild population. For example, the golden dog fern we are talking about today, the entire genus (Golden Dog Fern) has been marked as a national second-level key protected wild plant.

Someone said, this stuff is everywhere on the mountain behind my house. If I dig it up, will I really be arrested and put in jail?

Golden Dog Fern

Image from: siamgreenculture

Let's look at the legal provisions directly. According to Article 344 of the Criminal Law, anyone who violates the provisions of the Forest Law and illegally cuts down or destroys precious trees or other plants that are under state protection, or illegally purchases, transports, processes and sells precious trees or other plants that are under state protection and their products, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance, and shall also be fined; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years, and shall also be fined.

Here is another recent news:

You see clearly, the crime of endangering national key protected plants will really lead to criminal detention. Screenshot from Weibo

So if the golden dog fern you come across is not wild, but artificially cultivated by a store owner, can you buy it with confidence?

This is almost nonsense. Golden dog fern grows very slowly. It takes about 10-20 years from germination to growth into a large adult plant, which requires a long time and economic investment. Therefore, in order to control costs, many sellers will choose to steal golden dog fern from the mountains, then keep it in the nursery for a period of time to "clean it", and then sell it disguised as artificially cultivated. From the current cases, the golden dog fern sold on the market is basically stolen from the wild.

Therefore, if you see golden dog fern being sold in the market, you can ask the police to identify the truth, and the confiscated golden dog fern will be handed over to professionals for care.

Just search for golden dog fern and you will find relevant news almost every month.

Although there are sufficient wild populations of golden dog fern in some areas, they are ultimately limited and cannot withstand people's endless collection.

They grow very slowly, and each one represents the accumulation of years. Protect them while you still can, and don't wait until it's too late to regret.

Don't take chances, find a replacement

If you like ferns, you can actually look for other ferns that can be legally bought and sold, there are many.

For example, the kidney fern looks very fern-like:

Nephrolepis

Image from: natureloveyou

There is also the Staghorn Fern, which looks very unlike a fern. It is as graceful as a deer antler and looks like a three-dimensional decorative painting when kept at home.

Wild Staghorn Fern is also a national second-level protected wild plant, which is only distributed in a small part of Yunnan. The ones sold on the market are artificially cultivated, so there is no need to worry about illegal risks. However, Staghorn Fern has high requirements for air humidity, so it is not easy to raise.

Wild Staghorn Fern

Image from: plantnet

There is also a national second-level protected wild plant, Alsophila spinulosa. Although tissue culture technology has been fully developed, some large potted plants circulating on the market are difficult to cultivate and take a long time to grow. They are still collected from the wild and are not legal.

Keep your eyes open when purchasing and don't take chances.

In fact, it is very suitable for those of us who work indoors for a long time and never see the sun to grow a pot of ferns - they don't like direct sunlight, and a large amount of scattered light indoors can just meet their needs.

It is worth noting that ferns like moisture, so they should not only be watered every day during their growth period, but also sprayed with water mist around the plants to create a humid environment. They are also more afraid of cold, and the minimum temperature must be maintained above 5 degrees Celsius to basically ensure safe wintering.

In addition to being ornamental, fresh and tender ferns were also a delicacy on the table in the past. However, ferns contain carcinogens, so they must be thoroughly blanched in water before consumption so that they can be eaten relatively safely.

In comparison, fern root powder is safer.

Written by | Lin Sui

Some pictures are from | TuChong Creative

WeChat Editor | Happy

Source: Museum