Lotus story: According to legend, lotus is the incarnation of the beautiful maid Yuji around the Queen Mother. At first, Yusuke was envious when he saw two couples, men plowing and women weaving. Therefore, she was moved to escape from the Heavenly Palace and came to Xizi Lake in Hangzhou, accompanied by the daughter of the river god. The beautiful scenery of the West Lake made Yuji linger and play in the lake, and she was reluctant to leave at dawn. When the queen mother knew about it, she used the lotus throne to drive Yusi into the lake. Never go to the south again. " Since then, there has been one less beautiful maid in the Heavenly Palace, but one more flower in the world. Lotus is a famous traditional flower in China. It has beautiful leaves and flowers, full of fragrance and secretes people's hearts. It has the temperament of facing the sun without fear and leaving mud untouched. Therefore, lotus is the embodiment of truth, goodness and beauty in people's minds, a symbol of good fortune and wealth, and a sacred and clean thing in Buddhism. If it is sex, no ice and snow means clean; If it is a god, neither the stars nor the sun can describe its essence; Its appearance makes the flowers and the moon less beautiful than its color. "Although later redology experts thought that this was only the author's praise of Daiyu's purity in the name of singing Qingwen, in any case, Lotus is always associated with her daughter's purity. Because the sound of "lotus" is the same as that of "pity", there are many poems about lotus in ancient poetry to express love. For example, the Song of Xizhou written by Yuefu in the Southern Dynasties: "Picking lotus" bows its head, and lotus seeds are green as water. "Lotus seed" means "Reiko Kobayakawa" and "green" means "green". Here, there are both real and imaginary, and homophonic pun rhetoric is used to express a woman's deep yearning for the man she loves and the purity of love. Thirty-five songs in Jin's "Forty-two Midnight Songs": "The fog reveals the lotus, but the lotus is unclear." According to Buddhist scriptures, it is mainly because Buddhism is solemn and wonderful, and lotus flowers are soft, clean and fragrant, so "the lotus platform is beautiful." Classic poem: It is said that Zhou Dunyi's "Flowers and Plants" is very sweet. Tao Jin Yuanming loves chrysanthemums. Since Li Tang came, peonies have been loved all over the world. Love lotus alone, but don't touch it. Peony, blooming with wealth; Lotus, the gentleman of flowers. Alas! The love between chrysanthemums and flowers is rarely heard of by Taohou. Who gave the lotus love? Peony love is suitable for many people. (According to the original woodcut Complete Works of Mr. Zhou Lian Creek, Zhang Boxing's Qingyi Seal Carving, Volume 8) "Lotus, one of the top ten famous flowers in China, is called a gentleman among flowers. Since ancient times, large areas of wild lotus flowers have been characterized by their majesty and simplicity. In order to enjoy the fragrance of wild lotus without leaving home, people have cultivated wild lotus artificially. Today, we can see it in many parks or courtyards. Lotus belongs to Ranunculaceae, including Chinese lotus and American lotus. China lotus is distributed in Asia and Oceania, and most of them are tall, with oval leaves and green flowers. American lotus is distributed in North America, with short plants, nearly round leaves and dark green flowers. The flower has only a single petal, yellow, and is still in a semi-wild state. According to the fossil research of paleobotanists, as early as 654.38+35 million years ago, lotus plants were distributed in many waters in the northern hemisphere. In China, among the Hemudu cultural sites discovered in 1973, lotus flowers were distributed in China at least 7000 years ago and even used as food. Although some current data show that the lotus originated in India, according to historical data, China is the birthplace of the lotus. Lotus has been cultivated in China for a long time and spread widely. It reaches the northern foot of Tianshan Mountain in the west, Taiwan Province Province in the east, Heilongjiang in the north and Sanya in Hainan in the south. It can be said that China is the world cultivation center of lotus. Lotus is one of the oldest dicotyledons. At the same time, it has some characteristics of monocots. The embryo of lotus is wrapped in scales, similar to monocotyledonous plants. From the flower structure, the lotus has 3 or 4 layers of perianth, outer sepals, inner petals, many stamens, free pistils and single boat-shaped pollen grains. The stems of lotus are obviously segmented, and the underground stems are covered by fibrous roots. These are the characteristics of monocots. The buds of lotus are mixed buds. It is the terminal bud of lotus root and the location of axillary buds of each node. Roots can be divided into seed roots and adventitious roots. The main root formed by seed radicle is underdeveloped, and the adventitious root plays a functional role. As for the stem of lotus, it is actually the underground rhizome of lotus, which is an organ for storing nutrients and reproducing. Lotus is single, bisexual and consists of calyx, corolla, stamen group and pistil group. Rich in color. The fruit of lotus, commonly known as "lotus seed", is rich in nutrition and deeply loved by people. Lotus is an aquatic plant, which likes relatively stable and calm shallow water. Lakes, swamps and ponds are its suitable habitats. The water demand of lotus depends on the variety. The water level of large plant-shaped varieties such as Gulian and Chiba is deep, but it cannot exceed 1.7 meters. Small and medium-sized plant varieties are only suitable for 20 ~ 60 meters. In summer, as long as you don't water it for 3 hours, the lotus leaves planted in the jar will fade. If the water is cut off for one day, the lotus leaves will be burnt and the buds will wither. Lotus is also very fond of light, and it needs a full light environment during its growing period. Lotus is extremely intolerant of shade, and it will show strong phototaxis when it grows in semi-shade. It is said that the lotus leaf "emerges from the mud without being stained", which is a compliment to the lotus personality. In fact, the underground stem of lotus grows in the mud, so how can it not be poisoned? Because the extremely fine epidermis of lotus root and the lower epidermis containing tannin have certain barrier or absorption ability to toxic substances, most toxic substances are attached to the epidermis or infiltrated into the epidermis, which is invisible to the naked eye. So when eating lotus root, you must remember to peel off the epidermis and don't eat toxic substances into your stomach. Since ancient times, lotus has been loved by people for its ornamental, edible and medicinal purposes. Needless to say, the ornamental function of lotus in scenic spots, its edible effect has long been known. As early as 5,000 years ago, ancestors had already picked lotus seeds to eat. Now people make lotus roots, lotus seeds and flowers into vegetables and enter the international market. In addition, the stems, leaves, flowers and fruits of lotus are all raw materials of traditional Chinese medicine, and some of them are specific drugs for certain diseases.