Longya lily
Longya Lily
Dear friends:
Hello everyone! Welcome to Longhui, the hometown of Longya lily, for sightseeing. As you all know, Longhui is a place that produces outstanding people. As mentioned earlier, it is not only a famous "Hometown of Chinese Modern Folk Painting" and "Hometown of Chinese Honeysuckle," but also a major producing area of coix seed, and one of China's four famous lily-producing areas.
The world-renowned lily, with its elegance and beauty, fresh and refined character, and refreshing fragrance that delights the eye and heart, is highly favored by people and has become a hot commodity in international metropolises such as Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Beijing. It has also crossed east to Japan and sells well in international markets. Every year when the season turns from green to red and the lilies are in full bloom, its dignified and graceful presence can be seen in the flower markets of major cities.
The lily has a graceful posture, with verdant and elegant leaves and a slender, upright stem. Its colors are vivid and its bearing exceptionally beautiful, and it can emit a subtle, delicate fragrance, earning it the reputation of "Fairy in Cloud Garments." Whether in floral design, wedding flowers, or home decoration, it is indispensable. It is a precious flower for potted planting, cut flowers, and garden embellishment. Doesn't a large field of blooming lilies look just like a group of celestial maidens descended to earth?
Among all flowers, only the lily is the most dignified, only the lily has the longest history, and only the lily has the most legends.
As early as before the 4th century AD, people only knew to use lilies as medicine. It was not until the Northern and Southern Dynasties that Emperor Xuan of Liang discovered the beauty of the lily flower, deeming it well worth appreciating. He once wrote in a poem: "Layers of leaves overlap, the flower has no other color; bearing dew it droops low, following the wind like a bending willow." He praised its transcendent and reserved temperament. By the Song Dynasty, more and more people were planting lilies. The great poet Lu You once used the mound in front of his window to plant lilies and wrote a poem praising them: "I've moved fragrant orchids throughout the woods, what harm in planting jade hairpins in the remaining space? I ask for two more clusters of fragrant lilies—at seventy, this old man still has a child's heart." To this day, there is no shortage of lily lovers. The late Honorary President of the State, Song Qingling, also had a special fondness for lilies throughout her life, often placing a few stems in her room during spring and summer. When the sorrowful news of her passing spread, her close friends Dr. and Mrs. Rosen of the United States immediately sent a pot of lilies to the memorial hall set up by the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations in New York, to express their deep mourning for her.
Abroad, the lily is even more highly esteemed. Lilies appear in the Bible and in many works of art from before the Common Era. Over so many centuries, the lily has attained a lofty status. In noble families and some royal households, the lily symbolizes the power of the family. Since the 12th century, Chile and France have used the lily as a national emblem, encouraging the public to strive for national independence and economic prosperity. Even among the very few bulbous flowers used as sacred symbols in religious art, the white lily is the most commonly used.
From the Middle Ages onward, the lily has been associated with the Virgin Mary and Jesus, and naturally the white lily became a symbol of the Virgin Mary's purity.
The white lily is respected for its simplicity and purity. The origin of the lily is quite interesting. In ancient Greek legend, the lily was born from the milk that the goddess Hera spilled while nursing her child Heracles. As for the origin of its name, because its bulb is formed by many white scales wrapped in layers, shaped like a lotus, it was named with the meaning of "a hundred years of harmonious union." The Greeks and Romans placed crowns woven from lilies on their brides to bless them with a pure and abundant life. Depictions of lilies can be found on ancient vases and on many objects from Crete and Egypt.
Japan is a major place of origin for lilies, and since ancient times lilies have been used there to praise the graceful gait of women. As early as around 720 AD, the Japanese people offered lilies as tribute to the Emperor. In the Americas, the white lily is regarded as a symbol of hope; it is called the "Easter lily" and is widely used at Easter and on memorial days. In Europe, the lily represents "holiness" and "resurrection." The Bible's New Testament, Matthew, contains the phrase "the lilies surpass the glory of Solomon." The French especially honor it as their national flower. During Easter, people customarily use arrangements combining lilies, pansies, and roses to symbolize good fortune and greatness. In some parts of Europe,
people also have the custom of giving white lilies to remarried couples, using them as a metaphor for their rebirth like a phoenix rising from fire.
China has a long history of cultivating lilies. In ancient times, the red lily was called "Shandan," and the yellow lily was called "Huo Wang." Su Dongpo once praised them in a poem: "Shandan planted before the hall, scattered like a carnelian plate." The reason the lily can lead all flowers in elegance is not only that its floral beauty is worthy of admiration, but more importantly that people regard it as a symbol of good fortune. Because the lily's bulb scales clasp tightly together, "dozens of pieces stacked upon one another," shaped like a white lotus, people often see it as a symbol of unity, friendship, and harmonious cooperation. During festive occasions, people often exchange lilies or make lily cakes and other foods to entertain guests. Westerners, meanwhile, consider the lily a flower without evil thoughts and supremely holy, which is why the Danish people chose it as their national flower. Nowadays, when couples in countries around the world hold wedding ceremonies, brides use lilies as adornment. Because business is booming, many horticulturists have taken great pains to breed new varieties: some have multiple flowers on one stem, some are yellow and red intermixed, and some have recurved petals—truly the student surpassing the master—making the lily a large family with generations of outstanding members.
Besides being potted to decorate gardens, lilies are mostly enjoyed as cut flowers. Because their stems are relatively straight, they are most suitable for arranging in flower baskets or short vases. That atmosphere of "deep in the night fragrance fills the room, as if one has just sobered from wine" will help you express your feelings and bring your heart to a state of calm.
In addition to being ornamental, the lily is also a famous health food and a commonly used Chinese medicine. It was among the first batch of foods announced by the Ministry of Health of China as both medicine and food. Lilies are divided into medicinal lily, rice lily, vegetable lily, Longya lily, and tiger-claw lily. Among the lily family, Longya lily is the most precious. Modern medicine has proven that it contains abundant alkaloids, proteins, mineral elements, and other substances, and can effectively prevent cancers and other tumor diseases. It is a treasure among foods, and because of its high price, it is regarded as a aristocratic food.
Traditional Chinese medicine holds that the lily is sweet with a slight bitterness, neutral in nature, and enters the heart and lung meridians. It has the effects of moistening the lungs and stopping cough, clearing the heart and calming the spirit, and mainly treats dry cough due to yin deficiency, hemoptysis from consumptive cough, pulmonary fistula, deficient heat, restlessness and palpitations, insomnia, and frequent dreaming. It has pharmacological effects such as relieving cough, calming asthma, eliminating phlegm, resisting fatigue, sedation, hypnosis, improving immunity, and raising peripheral white blood cells. It can be used for lingering heat after febrile disease, restless deficiency and palpitations, mental aberration, chronic cough from pulmonary tuberculosis, hemoptysis, pulmonary abscess, and other conditions; or when one feels dry and hot after overeating fried, stir-fried, or deep-fried foods. The famous formula "Lily Bulb Decoction to Preserve Metal (pills)," used to treat lung damage, sore throat, cough and asthma with bloody phlegm, uses lily as the principal herb, combined with raw and prepared rehmannia, dwarf lilyturf tuber, fritillary, and others. At present, traditional Chinese medicine often uses lily in prescriptions to treat oral ulcers, Behcet's syndrome, chronic pharyngitis, pulmonary tuberculosis, and other diseases. If the pattern is correctly identified, the results are indeed good.
Clinical observation has found that using lily as the main treatment for stomach pain is indeed effective. It can also inhibit the mutagenic effect of aflatoxin, and at the same time has a certain auxiliary therapeutic effect on leukemia, lung cancer, skin cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer, breast cancer, and cervical cancer. Especially for those who after surgery or radiotherapy experience physical weakness and fatigue, dry mouth and irritability, dry cough with little phlegm, hemoptysis, deficient heat in the body, palpitations, and insomnia, using fresh lily or lily powder to make porridge and adding an appropriate amount of sugar or honey, taken regularly, has the effects of moistening the lungs, clearing the heart, and regulating the middle. It can stop cough, stop bleeding, stimulate appetite, and calm the spirit; it helps strengthen the constitution, inhibit the growth of tumor cells, and alleviate radiotherapy reactions.
When using lily to make soup or porridge, other foods or Chinese medicines may also be added as appropriate. For example, adding white fungus has the effect of moistening the lungs; adding mung beans can strengthen the effect of clearing the heart and detoxifying; adding coix seed can enhance its anticancer power. Decoctions made with lily and raw rehmannia, or lily and anemarrhena, taken as soup, have good effects on cancer patients suffering from irritability, restless sleep at night, mental aberration, and poor appetite caused by excessive worry. In addition, mashing an appropriate amount of fresh lily together with white sugar and applying it to the affected area also has a certain therapeutic effect on skin cancer with ulceration, bleeding, and oozing.
The lily is also called "Yehe," "Zhongpeng flower," and "garlic-brain potato." It is a perennial root vegetable of the Liliaceae family, mainly distributed in temperate regions such as China, Japan, North America, and Europe. China is the world's distribution center for lilies, with about 42 species, most of them in the southwest and central China. Very early on, China already used the abundant wild resources found throughout the country, domesticating the wild plants so that they could better serve humanity. As early as the Han Dynasty, lilies were already used as medicine, and the famous physician Zhang Zhongjing described their medicinal value in detail in his Jin Gui Yao Lue. In the Song Dynasty, Luo Yuan's Er Ya Yi said that "foreign chives" were lily garlic, and stated: "Lily garlic: the small roots are like garlic, the large ones like a bowl, with dozens of pieces layered together, shaped like a white lotus, hence the name lily flower, meaning a hundred pieces joined together." In Guang Qun Fang Pu, there are already records of fragrant lilies, Shandan, and scroll lilies. China has a long history of cultivating lilies, and Lanzhou in Gansu, Yixing in Jiangsu, and Shaoyang in Hunan are all famous lily-producing areas. The lily's bulb is composed of many fleshy scales. The scales are thick and rich in nutrients and have an excellent flavor. They can stimulate appetite, aid digestion, and clear heat, moisten the lungs, and stop cough, and are thus famous at home and abroad, exported to Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and European and American countries.
China is the country of origin for lilies. The cultivated lilies mainly include varieties such as Longya lily, Sichuan lily, and scroll lily. Longya lily is one of Shaoyang's traditional local products. Shaoyang has a long history of planting lilies. According to the Baoqing Prefecture Gazetteer, "Lilies produced in Shaoyang are especially large and plump." Because their shape resembles a dragon's tooth, they are euphemistically named Longya lily. The main producing areas are Longhui and Xinshao. Longya lily is hailed as a treasure among foods, rich in starch, protein, and fat, and has the medicinal effects of tonifying the lungs and nourishing yin, and clearing the heart and calming the spirit. Longya lily also symbolizes good fortune and "a hundred years of harmony," and is the best gift for giving to relatives and friends and for congratulating newlyweds. It is especially popular throughout Southeast Asia. Baoqing Longya lily sells well in international markets and enjoys a high reputation, and has always been welcomed by foreign merchants.
Longya lily has three characteristics: first, the segments are long and the scales are thick and plump; second, it is white, tender, and of excellent quality; third, it has a special fragrance. It is a perennial herbaceous plant of the Liliaceae family. Its stems and leaves die in winter, but its bulb has extremely strong cold resistance and can safely overwinter even at a low temperature of minus 15 degrees Celsius. It has very high economic value, being both a treasure among foods and having high medicinal value. Because lilies are rich in nutrients, sweet in flavor and neutral in nature, and contain protein, fat, vitamins, and various alkaloids, as well as abundant starch and minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, and iron, they can serve as a nutritional tonic. Medicinally, they have many effects such as nourishing, moistening the lungs, stopping cough, clearing heat, nourishing yin, tonifying the middle, boosting qi, calming the spirit, and promoting urination.
Longhui was originally an obscure small county in central Hunan. It became known in the late Qing Dynasty only because it produced Wei Yuan, the great thinker of modern Chinese history known as "the first person to open his eyes to see the world." Longhui is a famous main producing area of Longya lily in China, with a history of several hundred years of lily cultivation and rich accumulated practical experience in cultivation. Longhui Longya lily has obtained national intellectual property protection for regional products of origin. At present, the planting area has reached 20,000 mu, with a total output of 10,000 tons and an output value exceeding 250 million yuan. Longhui Longya lily is famous for its dried product, whose segments are plump and slightly curved, white to treasure-yellow in color, and shaped like a dragon's tooth. Its "Longya Brand" Longya lily, along with Longhui chili peppers and honeysuckle, have all obtained national green food certification and labels.
The lily is a precious rare vegetable and a specialty vegetable that sells well on domestic and international markets. The edible part of the lily is the bulb, which is formed by many scales clasping together. The scales are fleshy, thick, delicate, and soft-glutinous, with very high nutritional value. According to measurements: every 100 grams of fresh bulb contains 12.75% starch, 3.75% crude protein, 0.18% crude fat, 0.5% crude fiber, 10.38% soluble sugar, 5.61% pectin, and 1.25% ash. It also contains amino acids, multiple vitamins (including 0.784 mg of vitamin C), minerals, alkaloids, and various endogenous hormones such as indoleacetic acid, indolebutyric acid, and cytokinins. The content of 17 amino acids is 7.43% to 7.63% of the total dry matter.
Modern medical research has found that lilies contain abundant pectin (accounting for 5.6%), which can lower plasma cholesterol, reduce blood sugar, improve large intestinal function, and promote smooth bowel movements; lilies are high in potassium and low in sodium (potassium-to-sodium ratio of 76:1), can prevent high blood pressure, and help protect blood vessels; lilies contain lilioside and colchamine, which can inhibit cancer cell proliferation and have anticancer effects. At the same time, colchicine is also widely used to induce plant polyploidy, playing a great role in improving the yield and quality of crops. Lilies also have the function of regulating the spleen and strengthening the stomach and promoting fluid circulation, and their flowers and stems also have hemostatic effects. With the improvement of people's living standards and changes in food structure in China, the cooling and nourishing lily will become increasingly favored by people as a medicinal food, and demand will grow larger and larger.
The lily is white as jade in color, large in shape, sweet in taste, and its flesh is thick and delicate. It tastes soft-glutinous and fragrant, slightly bitter yet sweet and mellow, with a long aftertaste. Buried underground for three to five years, it can continue to grow larger; the stems that grow above ground reach about 1 meter tall, covered with needle-like leaves of deep green; its flowers are bright red or vermilion, and its fruit is a capsule. The ancient book Er Ya long ago described the lily's bulb as "shaped like a white lotus." I once thought that among the hundred flowers, only the lily is truly fortunate, possessing a lotus throne and worthy of being called a fairy in cloud garments. It sits on the lotus throne without showing off, has a pleasing beauty yet keeps a low profile, and is suitable both as food and medicine while bearing abundant capsules. All its noble bearing and good deeds come from its upright stem, its virtuous affinity for forming good connections, its bamboo-like leaves at the nodes, and its refined flowers. Thus it implies "all matters in accord" and "a hundred years of harmony." Whether in Jiangnan or beyond the northern frontier, it always takes root wherever it lands, bursting with spring vitality and blooming with radiant summer flowers.
Using fresh lilies in cooking in China had already become a custom as early as the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Today, on New Year festivals or important celebratory occasions, people consider it a pleasure to be able to taste dishes cooked with lilies. There are many ways to eat lilies fresh. They can be cooked with various meat and other foods into many beautifully colored and delicious dishes, and can also be made into various snacks and sweet soups. Examples include stir-fried pork slices with lily, honey-glazed lily, lily and lotus seed soup, osmanthus sugar lily, lily and goji berry soup, and glutinous rice lily porridge. Besides being eaten fresh, lilies can also be processed into dried lily, lily powder, canned lily, and lily beverages.
Stir-fried plainly or used as an accompanying ingredient, lilies taste sweet and starchy, with a long, lingering flavor and a distinctive character. When fresh lilies are stir-fried, they are white as jade and carry a fresh, clean aroma. Soup simmered with lilies is cool and refreshing, a cooling drink people enjoy in summer; after refinement, lily buds can also be used in dishes... Steamed dried lilies look like flowers, white as jade, sweet and pleasantly soft; rock sugar lily is crisp, sandy, and soft, fragrant and delicious; honey-steamed lily is sweet, fragrant, soft, and tender, with an elegant osmanthus fragrance; lily porridge is even more glutinous, soft, and slightly sweet, relieving fatigue and moistening the lungs. Besides being eaten fresh, lilies can also be processed into dried lily, lily powder, and various pastries, cans, mud cakes, sauces, powders, and other nutritional foods. It is not only a convenient health food suitable for men and women, young and old, but also a superior gift for relatives and friends. Even dried lily slices are likewise excellent in dishes and are a precious and rare vegetable.