This delicate flower is familiar to us since childhood. It is called "Iris" in Pingyang Kunyang area because its characteristics are so different.
name
Its official name is Commelina communis, which appeared in ancient Chinese. Baidu Encyclopedia lists 53 synonyms, all of which have specific images, including "Cui Butterfly" which is similar to Iris. There are colors related, such as "blue goose grass", "blue cicada snake" and "blue flower girl", among which "wild indigo" is the name of Longgang area in Cangnan. In Wenzhou, "wild" is often used to refer to "unorthodox" and "unorthodox". For example, an unknown plant that looks like sesame in the wild may be named. Similarly, in many places in Wenzhou, indigo is used to dye valerian, and the color of juice mashed by Commelina communis petals is very similar to indigo, so it is called "wild indigo". "Orchid" is a name of Pingyang people for being lazy, because it is a blue flower in the grass; Others are named after the shape of their leaves, such as Lophatherum gracile, bamboo, bamboo, bamboo, bamboo and so on. And the names similar to Commelina communis, such as coke, grass in grass and unicorn grass. ...
Among so many names, the ones that touched me the most were dew grass and firefly grass, with a little sentimental romantic feelings. People who speak Minnan dialect in Wenzhou call this plant "Huojingu (also called turtle) grass", and the "Huojingu" here is firefly. Chen Xinghua, a teacher of Pingyang Party School, is a plant lover who has been immersed in the plant world for decades. According to his analysis, the source of this name is probably because the shape of Commelina communis seeds is similar to fireflies.
More people are willing to believe that this is because the life cycle of Commelina communis is quite similar to that of fireflies. It has a long flowering period, from late summer to autumn, but the flowering period of each flower is very short. Flowers bloom in the morning and wither in the afternoon, just like fireflies. It takes about 50 days to pupate into adults, but the average life span of adults is only 5 days.
There is also Commelina communis in the west, and its English name is dayflowers, which is quite a short-lived sigh.
Japanese people like Commelina very much. Commelina is often associated with autumn and appears in the poet's haiku. There are literary and poetic names such as dew grass, firefly grass and moonlight grass. Perhaps only the Japanese character can appreciate this kind of grass and love it.
Dew Grass Collection written by Japanese essayist Dev Lu Hua is very accurate, describing it as the spirit of dew: "The crisp, short and beautiful face shadow is an instant message from the sky that people see. At the head of the village, at the foot of a Buddha with no ears, among all kinds of nameless flowers and plants, when he saw the dew grass full of morning dew blooming brilliantly, he praised the flower:' Dew grass, you are the dew drop on the blue sky, and you have revived the blue sky on the ground. "You are a flower in the air that blooms on the ground!" "
grow
At the end of August, autumn is getting stronger and stronger. I often see this kind of flower in the countryside, sometimes in the agricultural garden on the side of Pingyang Mountain, and sometimes on the old mossy wall of Zeya in Ouhai ... most of them are wet fields, streams and houses in front of the village. Most of these places are damp or shady. I saw that its stolons were climbing, and its alternate leaves were shaped like bamboo leaves, mixed with various unknown weeds, but they were not submerged. The whole plant is calm and comfortable, belonging to the bold school, in sharp contrast with the graceful and restrained flowers.
Chen Haozi of the Qing Dynasty wrote in his book "Flower Mirror": "A bamboo leaf is a piece of Xiaoqing and a piece of Commelina. Born in southern Zhejiang, I am with you. March seedlings several inches high are scattered on the ground. Purple stem bamboo leaves, their flowers are moth-shaped, only two petals, with green calyx under them, the greenest and cutest color. Local people use cotton, collect its green juice, and make goods as painting lights to make the night greener. Painters use it to break green and so on. " The following remarks are also very detailed: "In summer, the stem tips bloom, and there are big leaflike bracts under the flowers, and the flowers are covered with blue. The blue juice of the flower cover is the pigment for painting. "
Commelina communis has flashed many times in Miyazaki Hayao cartoons which are good at depicting the beauty of Japanese countryside with brushes. For example, in My Neighbor Totoro, the little hero Xiaomei is in the wild, observing plants through a leaking blue bucket, one of which is Commelina communis; Coincidentally, in Aglietti, the villain who borrows things, the slender spider silk and crystal dew set off the lifelike Commelina communis in the grass near Aglietti's house, that is, the sewer mouth. Those deja vu scenes, flowers and plants have brought the audience closer at once, and also softened our hearts a little.
Be used as medicine
For many farmers living in rural Wenzhou, Commelina communis is not so poetic. For them, it is very common to treat diseases with Commelina communis, which is common in front of the house and in the fields. Children at home have boils on their foreheads and styes in their eyes. Pull a little fresh Commelina communis with flowers and leaves, mix well with salt or soju, mash it with a stone mortar and apply it to the affected area. It will disappear at first, and if it has suppurated, it will relieve the pain.
Yes, Commelina communis can be used as medicine, which has the effects of clearing heat and cooling blood, diuresis and detoxification. Chinese medicine practitioners or barefoot doctors in rural areas use it more widely: to treat erysipelas, dysentery and acute fever in children, 2~3 fresh Commelina communis are used, and in severe cases, 5~7 fresh Commelina communis can be added; Sore throat, two Commelina communis roots, washed and mashed, often taken; To treat urinary tract obstruction, 1~2 Commelina communis, 1 Plantago asiatica, pound juice, add a little honey and take it on an empty stomach; For hypertension, 1 Commelina communis, 3 money tofu, decoction, as tea. ...
Earthwork is the simplest and most accessible plant. I don't know how many lives have been saved in an era of lack of medical care and medicine and backward sanitary conditions. Some rural people said with emotion, "Twenty years ago, all rural people knew one or two usages of Commelina communis. Now that medical conditions are good, I have to go to the hospital for diseases such as colds. " As a result, the wisdom and experience of those people gradually drifted away from us and eventually disappeared into the dust of history.
Commelina communis decoction has inhibitory effect on Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus. Modern clinical trial data also explain this problem rigorously to some extent. For example, for the treatment of sty, take fresh Commelina communis 1 stem (or 1 segment) and hold it on an alcohol lamp at a 45-degree angle. When the upper segment is burned, you can see that there are water drops and foamy liquid boiling out in the lower segment. Drop the liquid on the eyelid conjunctiva and eyelid margin (around the sty), or smear it on the eyelid skin surface while it is hot. * * * 6 1 case, 49 cases were cured and 7 cases were improved. Some of them took effect on 1 day and resumed the next day.
In the experiment of preventing and treating cold, Commelina communis was decocted with water for 4 days. Results There was no 1 case in 290 people, while there were 23 cases in 37 1 person in the control group (without medication).
But this herb is not suitable for everyone, such as people with weak spleen and stomach.
Input color
When the petals are gently twisted, there will be a little sticky blue juice, which is an excellent dye. The blue pigment in ancient Japan mainly came from Polygonum, Commelina communis and azurite. The color of "rubbing blue" is common in ancient poems, such as "rubbing blue shirt and apricot skirt", which is probably the color soaked by Polygonum multiflorum. Although the flowers of Commelina communis are beautiful, they fade easily as pigments. If you put it in the sun for a few months, it won't take long to get close to light yellow brown.
Commelina communis flowers are small and thin, and it takes a lot of time to replenish them. In the traditional Japanese oil Zen dyeing method, the flower juice of Commelina communis is used to draw manuscripts, and the dyed color is called dew grass color or light green, which means a thick and quiet blue. If the Japanese use Zen dyeing technology to make kimonos, they must draw patterns with the colors of blue and white paper soaked in grass. In some ukiyo-e paintings in Japan, the blue color of kimono is also considered as dew grass.
Later, the blue color dyed by Commelina communis flower juice easily faded and was replaced by another "Prussian blue". Prussian blue is a dark blue pigment used in painting and blue-and-white porcelain. It is produced by the reaction of potassium ferrocyanide and ferric chloride. Although the color is good-looking, it is a little more stiff and less amorous feelings!
So under the influence of the simple concept of advocating nature, an ink called "dew grass" came from Japan!
In late summer and early autumn, the flowers of Commelina communis in the yard are blue, a bit dazzling blue, unspeakable blue. I suddenly understand why Jin Meiling wrote fireflies in early summer and naked grass in late summer together, so let's end with it!
Enter poetry
The season of fireflies
impenetrable defence
Here we go again.
Firefly season.
Come on, use fresh and tender straw.
Weave a small firefly cage
Go along the path.
Have a good trip.
Commelina communis has blue flowers.
Dewdrops glistened on the path.
Step barefoot.
Have a good trip.