Lotus root It is one of the earliest species of angiosperms. According to the fossils studied by paleobotanists, lotus plants were distributed in many waters in the northern hemisphere10.35 billion years ago. At that time, in the late period of the rapid decline of the giant reptile dinosaur, its growth time on the earth was much earlier than the appearance of human ancestors (2 million years ago). According to Paleobotany (1965) by A.H. Christophevich of the former Soviet Union, lotus fossils have been found in Cretaceous strata in the Arctic of North America and amur river Basin of Asia (i.e. Heilongjiang), as well as Oligocene and Miocene strata in Europe and East Asia (Sakhalin Island) and Japan. At that time, the temperature on the earth was warmer than it is now. There were about 10~ 12 species of lotus plants distributed in five continents. With the advent of the post-glacial period, the global temperature dropped, making many plants extinct, while others were forced to drift away, completely breaking the original geographical distribution. Because of this disaster, two varieties of lotus survived, and their distribution range narrowed. Chinese lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) is distributed in Asia and northern Oceania, and N.lutea drifts to North America. Paleobotanists also pointed out that the lotus fossils from Pleistocene to Holocene (2 million years ago) excavated in Hokkaido and Kyoto are similar to modern China lotus; What are you doing in China? Fossils of lotus leaves from 0 million years ago are similar to modern lotus flowers in China. In 1970s, China Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development Planning, Ministry of Petrochemical Industry and Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences recorded in the book "Early Tertiary Sporopollen in Coastal Areas of Bohai Sea" that two kinds of lotus pollen fossils were found in Panshan, Liaoning, Beidagang, Tianjin, Kenli, Guangrao, Shandong and Cangzhou, Hebei. Fossils of the genus Nelumbo were also found in the strata of Changchang Basin in Qiongshan, Hainan Island, China, in the Tertiary tropical phytogeographical region. At present, the original wild lotus is still distributed in lakes and swamps in Fuyuan, Hulin, Tongjiang and Shangzhi counties of Heilongjiang Province. The above shows that lotus is an ancient plant before the Ice Age, which belongs to the representative of relict plant, such as Paeonia suffruticosa, Ginkgo biloba, Liriodendron chinense in China, Sequoia sempervirens and so on. , not swallowed by the glaciers of the ice age and survived.
Mystery of waterproof and self-cleaning of Erlianye
Numerous micron-sized waxy papillae structures are attached to the surface of lotus leaves. When observing these papillae with electron microscope, we can see that many nanoparticles with similar structures are attached to the surface of each micron-sized papillae, which scientists call the micro-nano dual structure of lotus leaf. It is these tiny double structures that make the contact area between the lotus leaf surface and water droplets or dust very limited, so there is a phenomenon that water droplets roll on the leaf surface and take away dust. Water will not stay on the surface of lotus leaves.
Scientific explanation of three kinds of fracture relations
When it comes to lotus, it is natural to mention lotus root. Holland belongs to Nymphaeaceae, a perennial herb planted in shallow ponds. Its stem was born in the mud and transformed into rhizome, that is, lotus root, also called lotus root. Lotus root grows horizontally in silt and absorbs nutrients by fibrous roots on the base stem. Lotus root has been a favorite food since ancient times, because its meat is crisp and tender, slightly sweet, contains a lot of starch and is rich in nutrition.
When we break the lotus root, we can observe that countless long white lotus roots are connected between the broken lotus roots. Why is this happening?
It is necessary to observe the structure of lotus root. It turns out that the tissues needed for plants to grow and transport water and nutrients are called ducts and tracheids. These tissues extend in all directions in plants and are as unimpeded as blood vessels in animals in leaves, stems, flowers, fruits and other organs.
The inner wall of the plant vessel will be particularly thickened at a certain position, forming various textures, some are annular, some are trapezoidal and some are reticulate. The thickened part of the lotus root catheter wall is continuous spiral, which is called spiral catheter. When the lotus root breaks, the spiral part of the inner wall of the catheter is separated and becomes a spiral filament with a diameter of only 3 ~ 5 microns. These filaments are much like stretched springs and will not break within the elastic limit. Generally, it can be stretched to about 10 cm.
Lotus root silk not only exists in lotus root, but also exists in lotus stem and lotus leaf, but is thinner. If you pick a lotus stalk, try to break it into several pieces and lift it like a long string of small green lanterns. It is this filament that connects these little green lanterns. This kind of filament looks very similar. If you look at it under a microscope, you will find that it is actually composed of 3 ~ 8 thinner filaments, just like a cotton yarn is composed of countless cotton fibers.
The delicate lingering of lotus root silk has long attracted the attention of the ancients. There is a sentence in Qufu, a poem written by Meng Jiao in the Tang Dynasty: "My heart is in the lotus root, although it is broken, it is still connected". Later, people used the idiom "broken silk" to describe that although the relationship was broken, the relationship was still connected.
Mystery of germination of ancient lotus in 4000 years
Ms. Shen is a botanist at UCLA. She cultivates all kinds of plants in her laboratory, but what she treasures most are two ancient lotus trees-both of which are about 500 years old.
"Ordinary flowers can only live for a few years." Ms. Shen said: "These two ancient lotus trees are very different. Their seeds have been baptized for hundreds of years and now they have sprouted and blossomed. "
Gulian, who has been sleeping for thousands of years, woke up.
A few years ago, Ms. Shen visited the China Institute of Botany in Beijing. When she returned to America, her colleague in Beijing gave her seven lotus seeds. "It is said that these seeds were excavated from lake sediments in the northeast. I know they are very old, but I don't know the exact number. " Ms. Shen said, "I didn't pay enough attention to them at that time, but my lab colleague John Sassen found their value."
John Sassen identified the age of ancient lotus seeds with a carbon isotope tester and found that they were actually left over from 1200 years ago! What is even more surprising is that when Ms. Shen cut off the seed shell with a blade and soaked it in the culture solution, it didn't take long to germinate!
Unfortunately, these seeds have a short survival time after germination, but they have been listed as the oldest seeds that can germinate in the world.
Can the seeds of the Millennium germinate? ! This aroused Ms. Shen's great interest, and she decided to go back to China again to find these mysterious lives. At that time, Ms. Shen was already a well-known scholar in the field of international botany, and many scientists were willing to help her complete this research work.
The road to science is not smooth.
The second batch of ancient lotus seeds that Ms. Shen brought to the United States has 2 1 grain, all of which are 200-500 years old. During 1997, Ms. Shen studied lotus cultivation techniques in Germany. Through "minor surgery", the first seed germinated, but only survived for less than three months.
"In the next three years, I cultivated three other seeds at the California Institute of Botany, but they didn't bloom-obviously, I used the wrong method." Ms. Shen recalled the past and said: "These two seeds have blossomed, which seems to be very lucky. These are the two trees you see now, one is 408 years old and the other is 466 years old. "
Although the ancient lotus has blossomed, it is different from the modern lotus and cannot fully adapt to the modern environment. "I am doing my best to make them thrive."
According to Ms. Shen, there should be a special reason why lotus can live so long; If we can find the internal mechanism of lotus longevity, human beings will benefit a lot, such as solving the problem of grain storage, reducing the hungry people in the world and possibly prolonging human life.
The key question is: What is the secret of longevity of lotus? Ms. Shen said that it may be related to the radiation of the soil.
Gaiman harbert is a chemist. He works with Ms. Shen. Harbert found that the soil around the seeds of ancient lotus gave off slight radiation. "Although the radiation intensity is very low, the effect after hundreds of years is still quite amazing." Ms. Shen explained, "This may be the reason why ancient lotus seeds can survive to this day."
It is reported that Ms. Shen still has 15 seeds left, which she intends to provide to other scientists so that the research project can be carried out on a global scale. "Lotus comes out of the mud and is not polluted, so it represents a special meaning in Buddhism." Ms. Shen said, "Now we should find out the secret of lotus's longevity and benefit all mankind."
How does the ancient lotus that has been sleeping underground for thousands of years bloom?
This is related to the structure of lotus seeds. The outer seed coat of lotus seeds is hard and dense, like a small "sealed bag". Sealing the seeds inside can prevent the infiltration of external moisture and air and prevent the loss of moisture and air inside the seeds, so the life activity of lotus seeds is extremely weak, which is equivalent to being in a dormant state. This is an important reason why ancient lotus seeds still have vitality.
In addition, it is also related to the burial environment of ancient lotus seeds. These ancient lotus seeds are buried in a peat layer about 30-60 cm deep, and the peat has good water absorption and moisture resistance; In addition, the peat layer is covered with thick soil, so the ancient lotus seeds are almost in a closed environment. In such an environment, ancient lotus seeds do not have the conditions to take root and sprout, so they can preserve their vitality.
The reason why Wulian grows and reproduces so fast.
Sixth, scientific and technological inventions originated from lotus flowers.
Since 1970s, William Barttelot, director of the Institute of Botany, Bonn University, Germany, and his team have studied the surface structure of more than 10,000 kinds of plants through electron microscope. This study finally revealed an interesting phenomenon: pour a few drops of glue on the lotus leaf, and the glue will not stick to the leaf, but will roll down without leaving a trace. The leaves are covered with a thin layer of wax crystals, which is clean, which is the characteristic of waterproof leaves. This phenomenon aroused Barttelot's curiosity and put forward the hypothesis that there is a causal relationship between water resistance and pollution resistance. After hard work, he invented a new technology to produce materials with completely waterproof surface and self-cleaning function. This is a new technology with a wide range of uses, which makes people no longer worry about the cleanliness of the top and surface of buildings, nor about the cleanliness of cars, planes and various means of transportation.