Posted ByChina7dayIn spring, flowers are blooming, flowers are in full bloom and colorful. In April of every year, the peony’s rich appearance and gorgeous colors compete in the flowers. Peony, graceful posture; peony, jade beads fragrance, crown unique group Fang. Chinese people always regard peony as a symbol of wealth, auspiciousness, prosperity and happiness.
Peony is a small deciduous shrub of Ranunculaceae, 1-2 meters high, with fleshy and plump roots. Leaves alternate, three times and three times. Flowers solitary at the top of branches, 10-20cm in diameter, with single or double petals. Peony, also known as deer leek, mouse Gu, hundred Liang gold, Fugui flower and peony, originated in China, is distributed in Shaanxi, Sichuan, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu and other provinces. Up to now, there are wild species of peony in Qinling and Northern Shaanxi mountains.
The peony flowers are unique in color and fragrance. Colorful color, red, yellow, blue, white, pink, green, purple, surpassing flowers. Even if the flowers are red, some are like red, some are like fire, some are like red agate, some are like ice, some are like silver, some are like white jade. The fragrance of flowers is refreshing and intoxicating. Peony is known as the “king of flowers”.
In the Han Dynasty, the root bark of peony is called Danpi, which is a precious medicinal material with the effect of clearing away heat, cooling blood and removing blood stasis. “Shennong Materia Medica” has talked about Danpi. Because, to know that peony can be used for medicine, there must be a process, from which it can be inferred that people must know peony before Qin and Han Dynasty. Since the northern and Southern Dynasties, peony has become a valuable ornamental flower. According to records of the sea, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty established a land of 100 kilometers as the west garden. He wanted all parts of the country to pay tribute to exotic flowers and plants. Among the flowers sent from all parts of the country were peonies.
In the Tang Dynasty, peony became a precious flower in the Imperial Palace, and a peony garden was opened in Lishan. Li Longji and Yang Guifei, emperor of the Tang Dynasty, once had a feast under the peony flowers. Li Bai was ordered to enter the palace and wrote a famous sentence: “the famous flowers are so popular that the emperor looks at them with a smile; they explain that the spring wind is so hateful that the chenxiangting is leaning against the dry in the north.” In the poem of peony chanted by the Chinese scholars, there is a saying that “when the national color is strong, the heaven is fragrant and the night is stained with clothes”. At that time, Emperor Ming of Tang listened to it and praised it very much, and asked the imperial concubine to drink a purple and gold wine in front of the dressing table to express the artistic conception described in the poem. Since then, peony has won the reputation of “national color and natural fragrance”.
In Luoyang, the capital of that year, every late spring, the people who watched peony were “crazy with horses and chariots”. There were a large number of people, one after another. Bai Juyi once wrote a poem describing the grand occasion of that year: “people in a city are crazy when flowers bloom and fall for 20 days.” Liu Yuxi, the poet, also said, “only the peony is the true color of the country, and the flower season moves the capital.”
In Luoyang in the Northern Song Dynasty, peonies were planted and appreciated, which became a common trend. It is true that “Luoyang peonies are the best in the world” and “spring city is full of flowers”. Every family in Luoyang grows peony, which is as famous as Yangzhou peony and is called “the first in the world”. “Luoyang is the most suitable place for flowers, especially peonies.” Ouyang Xiu, a poet, not only wrote about this event, but also wrote about the story of peonies in Luoyang. He has traveled to more than 10 gardens in the city, especially praised the Yellow peonies of Yao family and the red peonies of Wei family. Yao Huang is known as the king of flowers, and Wei Zi is known as the queen of flowers. “Yao Wei has always been under the influence of Luo Qi, and he would not hesitate to buy prosperity.” that’s what they said when they made a sensation in Beijing. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the peony in Pengzhou, Sichuan, once took the place of Luoyang, ranking first in the world.
Now, the peony varieties are famous for their light goose yellow, Royal robe red, Wanzhong purple, phoenix tail white, and even rarer are two-color flowers.