What exactly is gesang flower? The latest comprehensive interpretation is here
Gesang flower, also known as gesang Meiduo, is widely disputed as to which specific plant it refers to. In a broad sense, “gesang Meiduo” is most likely a byword for the wildflower with the strongest vitality on the plateau, while in terms of botanical characteristics, plants of the Aster genus in the Asteraceae family and the commonly cultivated plant China aster found from Lhasa to Qamdo both fit the characteristics of gesang flower. In addition, in Tibetan areas there are also claims that plants such as Potentilla fruticosa, Stellera chamaejasme, alpine rhododendron, and snow lotus are called gesang flower.
Purely from a botanical perspective, gesang flower should be the resource-rich and widely distributed Aster genus plants and China aster of the Asteraceae family in Tibetan areas. In horticulture, people usually follow custom and collectively call plants before and after taxonomic changes “aster”; the broad Aster genus also includes other neighboring genera, and these neighboring genera in Tibet include Heteropappus and Callistephus. Many plants of the Aster genus are not only traditional medicinal plants, but plants such as Aster ciliosus can be used to treat diseases such as plague and poisoning, and other species in this genus also have similar medicinal value, so they fit the story of the gesang living Buddha in folk legend.
Many people regard Cosmos bipinnatus as gesang flower, but this flower has another name in Tibetan areas, called “Zhang Daren flower.” Although Cosmos bipinnatus is the plant representing gesang flower in many film and television works such as “Eight-Petal Gesang Flower” or in a large number of Tibetan periodicals, magazines, and songs, Lhasa people call this flower “Zhang Daren flower” because this flower was brought to Lhasa by Zhang Yintang, the Qing dynasty ambans in Tibet in the late Qing dynasty. At that time, very few people in Tibet understood Chinese, but many Tibetan common people could say the term “Zhang Daren.” Many elderly Tibetans who could not speak Chinese could also fluently say the 3 Chinese characters “Zhang Daren” when talking about this flower, so in terms of when the species was introduced to China, Cosmos bipinnatus is absolutely not gesang flower in the strict sense.
In addition, some claims say that Potentilla fruticosa of the Rosaceae family, Potentilla genus, is gesang flower. Potentilla fruticosa, also known as golden hardhack, is called gesang flower in Tibetan and is the city flower of Lhasa. It is a deciduous shrub of the Rosaceae family, Potentilla genus, widely distributed in hillside grasslands, gravel slopes, shrublands, and forest edges from the subarctic to the north temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere, at an altitude of 1000-4000 m.
Gesang flower holds a very high place in the hearts of Tibetan people. People often use gesang flower to express and convey beautiful emotions, and it is regarded by Tibetan common people as a holy flower symbolizing love and good fortune. In the long course of Tibetan history, gesang flower has existed in the hearts of Tibetan common people as a kind of spirit, becoming their symbol of pursuing happiness, good fortune, and beautiful emotions. Beautiful but not fragile and showy, it often becomes a byword for describing strong women. Because it loves the plateau sunshine and fears neither severe cold nor wind and frost, it is regarded as a wildflower with the strongest vitality on the plateau, and it is also the city flower of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.