Description: Epiphyllum, the opening time is very short. A beautiful thing or scenery appears for a while and then disappears.
Source: The Wonderful Lotus Sutra Convenient Goods: "If the Buddha tells Toto that Loki is a wonderful method, when the Buddhas come, they will say that if it is a beautiful flower, it will be heard for a while."
Ex.: this grand occasion is just ~.
Judging from the origin of the word, the epiphyllum in A Flash in the Pan is not the kind of ornamental plant that people are familiar with today. The idiom "a flash in the pan" comes from Buddhist scriptures. Epiphyllum is the Sanskrit transliteration abbreviation of udumbara. "Hokkekyo Convenience II": "If the Buddha sues Sharifutsu, it is a wonderful method. When the Buddhas come, speak out. If the flowers are excellent, the ears will appear. " "Hokkekyo Sentence 4" said that the excellent Tanbohua "appeared once every three thousand years, and now the Golden Wheel King (the Buddha who ruled four continents) has come out". These statements tell people that it is rare for the potted flower in Youtan to "show up" and get involved with the "King of Golden Wheel", which also adds a layer of mystery to it. Therefore, some people call the potted plants in Youtan "smallpox", while others call them "imaginary plants".
In fact, the flower bowl in Youtan is not an imaginary thing. Tang Xuan Shi described its shape in "The Classics, Sounds and Meaning": "Leaves are like pears, fruits are as big as fists, and they are sweet and fruitless without flowers." It can be inferred that it belongs to fig plants. Li Shizhen, a great physician in Ming Dynasty, clearly affirmed in Compendium of Materia Medica: "Figs are fruits reflecting the sun, which is the so-called superior pot in Guangdong." The opening of the Youtan Bowl Flower does not take an unimaginable long time of 3,000 years. In the Song Dynasty, Su Shi wrote a poem "If there are no flowers in a beautiful pot, ask the teacher who sang this song" ("Poem for Elder Pu Jianxin"). It is even more untrue to deny that it can blossom at all. Youtambo flower is a fig tree. Because of this, people have many magical imaginations about its "first appearance".
The epiphyllum in a flash in the pan refers to the potted flowers in the secluded pool. The original meaning of this idiom means that things are rare or extremely rare. Later, with the passage of time, the meaning of this idiom gradually changed. People often use "a flash in the pan" to mean that things disappear soon after they appear. Corresponding to the moral of this rising star, the perianth originally belonging to the secluded pool basin of Ficus was "grafted" into cactus epiphyllum. This plant originated in the United States, and now it is cultivated all over China. Its flowers bloom at night, dazzling and fragrant, but unfortunately the opening time is too short, and they wither in just a few hours. People use it as a metaphor for fleeting things, which is really very appropriate.
Epiphyllum, commonly known as Epiphyllum, belongs to Cactus. The stems and leaves are abnormal, the old stems are cylindrical and lignified, and there is a layer of wax on the stems; The leaves have degenerated into slender needles.
The flowering period of epiphyllum is generally from June to 10, and the flowering time is generally after 8 ~ 9 pm. The flowering time is only 3-4 hours, which is very short.
When the epiphyllum opens, the flower tube slowly tilts, the crimson coat slowly opens, and then the big white flower composed of more than 20 petals opens. Petals and stamens are trembling when they are open, which is beautiful. However, after only 3 ~ 4 hours, the corolla closed and the flowers withered quickly. It was a flash in the pan!
Then, why can epiphyllum only be a "moment"?
Epiphyllum is native to the tropical desert region of Central and South America, where the climate is particularly dry. The temperature is very high during the day. Only when the delicate epiphyllum blooms at night can it avoid being scorched by the strong sunlight during the day. Epiphyllum belongs to insect-borne flowers. At eight or nine o'clock in the evening in desert areas, insect activities are frequent, and flowering is most conducive to pollination at this time. After midnight, the temperature in the desert area is too low, which is not conducive to the activity of insects and pollination of epiphyllum. Epiphyllum has a short flowering time, which can reduce water loss. Therefore, epiphyllum has gradually formed this special flowering habit in the long evolution process.
"Beautiful love legends from the folk:"
Epiphyllum was originally a flower god. She blooms every day and the seasons are brilliant. She also fell in love with the young people who water and weed her every day. Later, the jade emperor learned that he was furious and wanted to break up with Yuanyang. The Jade Emperor arrested the flower god, reduced her to an epiphyllum that can only bloom for a while every year, prevented her from meeting her lover again, and sent the young man to Lingjiusan to become a monk, and named him Wei Tuo to make him forget the past and the flower god.
Over the years, Wei Tuo really forgot the flower god, concentrated on studying Buddhism, and gradually achieved something. Flower God will never forget the young man who took care of her. She knew that every year at the end of spring, Wei Tuo would come down to collect morning dew and cook tea for the Buddha. So Epiphyllum chose to open at that time. At that moment, she bloomed the essence that had been gathered for a whole year. She hoped that Wei Tuo could look back and remember her. But after thousands of years, Wei Tuo went down the mountain to collect morning dew every year. Epiphyllum blooms silently year after year. Wei Tuo no longer remembers her.
A flash in the pan, just for Wei Tuo. So Epiphyllum is also called Wei Huatuo.