Elder Brother took a fine treasure home to make a bonsai; no wonder some people laughed at him for being foolish.

Elder Brother took this fine treasure home to make a bonsai; no wonder some people laughed at him for being foolish!

As for the plants and flowers used for bonsai, there are now so many varieties that they are too numerous to count. Wealthy people keep high-end specimens, while those without money keep cheap ones. Whether in the city or in the countryside, because living conditions are getting better and better, many of us have taken up growing bonsai to enrich our spare time.

But do not underestimate our vast countryside, for this is where our noble treasure bonsai plants grow. Just the other day, Elder Brother came across such a treasure in the mountain forest. But people all use this kind of thing to make medicine, and now this kind of thing is becoming rarer and rarer. If you find one in a single day, that counts as very good fortune!

This treasure is called tian dong. Alternate names: laohu weiba gen, tian dong cao, ming tian dong. The roots of Asparagus cochinchinensis are spindle-shaped, the leaf-like branches usually grow in clusters of 3, the pale green flowers are axillary, and the berries turn red when ripe. It is a perennial herbaceous plant of the Liliaceae family and the Asparagus genus. It nourishes yin and promotes fluid production, moistens the lungs and clears the heart. It is used for dry cough due to lung dryness, cough from consumptive disease, thirst from fluid damage, restlessness and insomnia, internal heat and wasting-thirst, constipation due to intestinal dryness, and diphtheria.

The stems of this medicinal herb can grow very long and stay evergreen all year round. The stems are fairly soft and can be shaped into a coiled, attractive bonsai. The roots produce tuberous roots like radish heads, and the taste is a little like raw potato, fresh and crisp. It is a fairly important medicinal material in our traditional Chinese medicine.

However, the thing Elder Brother came across was not meant to be used as medicine, because he saw that this treasure not only had vines that looked quite pleasant, but even its roots looked very attractive. So Elder Brother decided to use it to make a bonsai.

No wonder Old Zhang, the folk doctor in our village, laughed at him for being foolish. It turns out that when Elder Brother dug up this thing, Old Zhang happened to be visiting his home, and seeing such a rare thing, of course it was something a doctor would want. So he was prepared to give him some money to buy it back for medicine, but Elder Brother did not agree. Still, you have to admit, this kind of thing really does make a nice bonsai. If you go into the mountains for fun in the future, be sure to pay attention. If you see this kind of thing, do not miss it! If you came across this kind of thing in the forest, could you recognize it?