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Tianshan Snow Lotus: As holy and beautiful as a fairy from heaven

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Snow lotus flower, named snow lotus because its top resembles a lotus flower, abbreviated as snow lotus. It is a perennial herb, 15-35 cm tall. The rhizome is thick, with the neck covered by numerous brown remnants of leaves. The stem is stout and hairless. The leaves are dense; the basal leaves and stem leaves are sessile, with elliptical or ovate-elliptical blades; the uppermost leaves are bract-like, membranous, pale yellow, surrounding the inflorescence, with sharp teeth along the edges. There are 10-20 capitula, densely clustered at the top of the stem into a spherical compound inflorescence. The involucre is hemispherical, 1 cm in diameter; the involucral bracts are in 3-4 layers, with edges or entirely purplish-brown. The florets are purple. The achenes are oblong. The pappus is dirty white. Flowering and fruiting period is July-September.

Snow lotus flower, named snow lotus because its top resembles a lotus flower, abbreviated as snow lotus. It is a perennial herb, 15-35 cm tall. The rhizome is thick, with the neck covered by numerous brown remnants of leaves. The stem is stout and hairless. The leaves are dense; the basal leaves and stem leaves are sessile, with elliptical or ovate-elliptical blades; the uppermost leaves are bract-like, membranous, pale yellow, surrounding the inflorescence, with sharp teeth along the edges. There are 10-20 capitula, densely clustered at the top of the stem into a spherical compound inflorescence. The involucre is hemispherical, 1 cm in diameter; the involucral bracts are in 3-4 layers, with edges or entirely purplish-brown. The florets are purple. The achenes are oblong. The pappus is dirty white. Flowering and fruiting period is July-September.

Snow Lotus

It is distributed in many high-cold regions of China, and also in Russia and Kazakhstan. It grows in rock crevices, stone walls and glacial moraine gravel flats near the alpine snow line, at an altitude of 2400-4000 m. The largest and best-quality production comes from the Tianshan Mountains. It can be used medicinally and also has a certain ornamental value.In 1996, China listed Tianshan Snow Lotus as a second-class protected plant. Tianshan Snow Lotus is the only snow lotus plant included in the China Plant Red Data Book, and it is a national third-class endangered species in China. In 2000, Document No. 13 of the State Council explicitly prohibited the harvesting of wild snow lotus.

Snow Lotus

Medicine:

Snow lotus is warm in nature, sweet and bitter in taste, and enters the liver, spleen and kidney meridians. It has the effects of dispelling cold, strengthening yang, regulating menstruation and stopping bleeding, and is used to treat impotence, weak waist and knees, irregular menstruation in women, uterine bleeding and leukorrhea, rheumatoid arthritis and traumatic bleeding, among other conditions. According to the Supplement to the Compendium of Materia Medica: snow lotus "is very hot in nature and can supplement essence and strengthen yang"; according to Xinjiang Chinese Herbal Medicine: "snow lotus is warm in nature and slightly bitter, with the function of dispelling wind and removing dampness."

Snow lotus contains proteins, amino acids, flavonoids, alkaloids and more. It has effects such as promoting menstruation and blood circulation, dispelling cold and removing dampness, stopping bleeding and reducing swelling, and eliminating toxins from the body.

Beauty:

It can accelerate the skin's metabolism, reduce wrinkles, and keep the skin radiant and plump. It delays aging. It also has a good effect on facial freckles, liver spots and so on.

Culinary use:

Snow lotus black chicken pot, snow lotus squab pot, snow lotus turtle soup

Snow Lotus

Folk legend:

In the past, when high-mountain herders encountered snow lotus on their journeys, it was regarded as an omen of good fortune and treated as a holy thing. It is said that this lotus in the snow was scattered by fairies when the Queen Mother of the West came to bathe in Tianchi, and the snow peak opposite, at an altitude of more than five thousand meters, is a beautiful mirror. The snow lotus is regarded as a sacred object. Drinking the dew and water droplets on the bracts was believed to ward off evil and cure illness, and to prolong life.




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