In the fleshy world where Jingtian is wildly popular, it is not easy to fight a path of blood. The magic apricot has successfully won the attention of meat friends with its strange body and anti sky color, and naturally has become everyone's new favorite.
Spinach juice wide vermicelli in the fleshy world ~ precious green
The magic jade lapidaria margaretae (Part 1: Flickr; Next two: Liu Hong (Gardening)
The Crassulaceae family is huge, and the good body of the apricot family is not to be outdone. According to literature records, there are about 138 genera and 1882 species of the apricot family. Among them, succulent plants are mainly distributed in southern Africa, mainly in Namibia and South Africa, and a small amount in Australia and the central Pacific. The stems of succulent plants in the family armeniaceae are erect or recumbent. The leaves are simple, opposite or alternate, and the fruit is a capsule. When mature, it will burst and release countless small seeds.
A fleshy pod of the genus silverleaf. See watermark for image source.
The reason why so many people are fascinated by the meat of apricot family is that the biggest credit comes from "raw stone flower", that is, the "ass flower" often talked about by meat friends. As the most famous and beautiful body in the apricot family, buttock flower is the general name of Lithops succulent plants, which is native to southern Africa and prosperous in namagalan, South Africa. The part that looks like the butt is actually the leaf of the raw stone flower. The two thick leaves are opposite and integrated at the base. The top of the leaf is called the window, which can pass through the light. Its epidermis is relatively hard, which can resist the adverse external environment to a certain extent; The epidermis on both sides is thin and tender, densely covered with tiny pores for gas exchange with the outside world. There is a layer of chloroplast containing cells under the skin, which can accept the light transmitted from the window for photosynthesis. The window surface of raw stone flower shows various patterns according to different varieties. Some kinds of patterns are also translucent, which is very strange. The variety of raw stone window patterns is to adapt to the local environment. In the country of origin, most of the raw stone flowers are covered with dust and gravel, leaving only the "window" structure. The color is very similar to the dust and gravel, and integrated with the surrounding environment. It is difficult to be found by natural enemies. It is only detected when flowering, which is the so-called "Mimicry" phenomenon. So Lithops in Greek means "stone surface", which is very vivid and appropriate.
The maintenance of raw stone flower is really fun. It usually looks like an insignificant "ass", but the "little chrysanthemum" is amazing. Every year, the interior of raw stone flower will breed a pair of new leaves, absorb the nutrients of old leaves, and grow when the time is ripe, forming a molting phenomenon like climbing animals. Two, two, four... It is very strange. Raw stone flowers grow slowly and grow a little bigger in a year, so maintaining raw stone flowers is more like a kind of practice. We should stand loneliness.
Some raw stone flowers don't bloom well, but they play a small game! Look at these wonderful flowers below, including "pig nose", "doughnut", rare "raw stone flower brocade", and "East, West, North and South" when playing as a child... It's just an alien planet crossing over!
In addition to the "raw stone flower" of the red fried chicken, there are many good bodies with strange demons in the apricot family. They are not like the aborigines of the earth, but more like life from other planets. For example, the flesh of the apricot family, called the immortal bird mitrophyllum Grande, looks like a mustard core forked on the top of the head. Although it has the same name as the immortal bird of Rhodiola, it is a member of mitrophyllum, a relatively popular genus of the apricot family. The undead bird is native to little Namaqualand, North Cape Province, South Africa. This vast gravel land is dry and rainy, and the average annual precipitation is less than 100 mm. However, it is foggy in winter. The meat of kikuju will settle their homes in the shady rock cracks and live by absorbing the water in the fog.
The stem base of the undead bird is unbranched, and the top grows only a pair of leaves in each growing season. Specifically, the leaves of the undead bird have two growth types: the leaves in the growth period (every winter) bifurcate like the ears of a rabbit; In summer, the little rabbit's ears will droop due to lack of water, slowly dry, and finally become a translucent paper structure. Under this layer of structure, another pair of new leaves grew. At first, they did not bifurcate. When the weather turned cold, they began to bifurcate and grow. The leaves like rabbit ears appeared again!
Source: pinterest
It is worth mentioning that the meat of the apricot family is not all high cold. Some of their members have gone civilian and come to the dinner tables of thousands of families. Yes, you heard right. Many food products reported that they often eat a novel vegetable in restaurants. Its name is also unique. It is called "iced vegetable". It looks ordinary, green and looks like spinach, but it is covered with crystal clear beads. It is said that those "ice crystal particles" will explode at the tip of the tongue, with a light salty taste and a very unique taste. In fact, this kind of "ice vegetable" is really a member of the meat family. Its academic name is "ice leaf day flower mesembryanthum crystallinum", which belongs to the genus day flower of apricot family. It is native to the coastal saline alkali zone in southern Africa. Now it is introduced and cultivated by many countries as a new and strange vegetable. Because the leaves have transparent salt glands like dew, which are filled with liquid and reflect light under the sun, they are as crystal clear as ice crystals, so they are called "iced vegetables". With the change of seasons, iced vegetables will also show beautiful suffocating colors, like frosted cranberries. The romantic French make it delicious on the table, and the salad is delicious without salt. But so beautiful, are you willing to eat?
Source: Flickr
Having said so much, in addition to the flower and bird market, where can we witness the real body of these magic apricots in China? Of course, I'm going to Shanghai Liuhong horticulture. Teng Liuhong, its founder, is the ancestor of the fleshy circle in China. He is one of the first people to introduce new species of fleshy plants from abroad and cultivate and reproduce them. At present, a large part of the popular raw stone flowers in the market come from Liuhong horticultural farm. People who have raised apricots know that they are not so easy to raise. Dormancy, molting, rametting, rooting and pollination all require mature skills. Mr. Teng devoted himself to the cultivation and reproduction of apricots and tamed their delicate temperament. All the apricots under him were huge and shining like gemstones, which was amazing and eye opening.
Dense seedlings of the genus chuntaoyu
Arrangement and combination of various meat cones
As the saying goes: a radish a pit, in teacher Teng's greenhouse is "a group of meat cones a pit".
It's rare to see so many meat cones.
Ice flower, a common product of apricot family, can also develop roots~
Apricot is succulent. Sometimes it casts "magic temptation" and sometimes makes you "salivate". Have you "entered the pit"?
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