Kapok Legend: Kapok was first seen in Jin's Miscellanies of Xijing: In the Western Han Dynasty, Zhao Tuo, king of South Vietnam, paid tribute to the Han Emperor, saying that the beacon tower tree was "one foot two feet high, burning three books at night". It is said that this lighthouse tree is kapok. Flower language: Hero Flower Family: Deciduous Tree of Kapok Family Alias: Banzhi Tree, Hero Tree, Panzhihua Origin: China, Indian, Indonesian, Philippine also known as Panzhihua, Deciduous Tree, the height can reach 25 meters. The base of the trunk is densely covered with thorns, the branches are whorled and the leaves are alternate. Every year from March to April, the first leaf opens, and the corolla has five petals, orange or orange-red. Calyx dark brown, leathery. After flowering, it bears oval fruit with oval seeds and white cotton wool. The flower language of kapok: cherish the people around you and cherish the happiness around you. Because kapok usually blooms in March and April, April 1 1 is designated as the day of kapok. Panzhihua is kapok. Kapok is the city flower of Guangzhou, Guangdong, Kaohsiung, Taiwan Province and Panzhihua, Sichuan. [Edit this paragraph] Morphological characteristics: the trunk is upright and the tumor is obvious; Rotate the lateral branches horizontally; Palmately compound leaves with long petioles; The flowers are big, orange or red; The fruit is a capsule, which will crack automatically when it matures. It is filled with cotton wool, which can be used as a filling material for pillows, quilts and so on. The appearance of kapok changes greatly: in spring, a tree is orange-red; In summer, green leaves are shaded; Autumn leaves are bleak; In winter, bare branches and cold trees show different customs in four seasons. These flowers are orange. From February to March every year, the leaves fall off and enter the flowering period, and then the leaves grow, and the tree has masculine beauty. Kapok is a tropical tree species, which likes high temperature and high humidity climate and has low cold tolerance. In case of long-term low temperature of 5 ~ 8℃, its branches will suffer from freezing injury to avoid frost. In Guangzhou, Nanning and other places in southern China, it is safe to overwinter in the open field in normal years and in cold years. In the northern part of South China and even the vast areas of North China, only potted plants can be used, and they should be moved into greenhouses or indoors in winter. Room temperature should not be lower than 10℃. Suitable for planting in sunny places, and the requirements for soil are not harsh. Suitable for sandy soil or cohesive soil. It likes acidic soil, is more resistant to drought and humidity, and has low requirements on fertility. Generally, the soil with moderate fertility and high phosphorus and potassium fertilizer has lush flowers and bright colors, and the soil with sufficient water and high nitrogen fertilizer has lush branches and leaves, but the flowers are not bright. When planting, use decomposed cake fertilizer or garbage as base fertilizer. According to the literature, kapok was first seen in Jin's Miscellanies of Xijing: In the Western Han Dynasty, Zhao Tuo, the king of South Vietnam, paid tribute to the Han Emperor, calling the beacon tower tree "one foot two feet high and burning three books at night". It is said that this lighthouse tree is a kapok tree. Guangzhou people have special feelings for kapok, because kapok has always benefited Lingnan. Guangdong people use kapok to make cotton wool, cotton-padded clothes, quilts and pillows. Li Cong, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, said, "Clothes cut kapok." Song Dynasty's Miscellaneous Notes on Panyu contained: "Kapok trees are twenty or thirty feet high, cut into paulownia trees, and the flowers are withered in February and March, and the core is cotton. He wove it into a blanket, white as snow and extremely warm. " Kapok can also be used as medicine. It can be harvested in late spring, dried, washed, washed and decocted in water to clear away heat and promote diuresis. Kapok is big, orange-red, extremely beautiful and can be appreciated. Kapok trees were widely planted in ancient Guangzhou, among which more than ten plants in front of Nanhai Temple were the oldest. Every February in the lunar calendar, kapok is in full bloom, and thousands of people come to watch it every day. The scene was lively, and Qu Dajun praised it with the song of ancient kapok in Nanhai Temple in Qing Dynasty. Now there are two ancient kapok trees in Nanhai Temple, which are weather-beaten and tall and straight. Kapok is a fast-growing and strongly positive tree species. In order to gain sunshine and rain, its crown is always higher than the surrounding trees. Kapok, with its enterprising spirit and bright red flowers, is called hero tree and hero flower. The earliest person who called kapok a "hero" was Chen Gongyin of the Qing Dynasty. In his Song of Kapok, he described Kapok as "a hero with a thick beard and a wide face, full of energy and high above". 1959, Guangzhou Mayor Zhu Guang wrote 50 poems, including "Guangzhou is good, humanity is kapok". Fallen leaves bloom, flying like a phoenix, soaring into the sky, dancing in the sun and dancing in the dragon. March is spring breeze. Characteristics of medicinal materials: the flowers are 5 ~ 8 cm long, shrink when they are dry, are irregular blocks, and most of them have no ovaries and pedicels. Calyx cup-shaped, 2.5 ~ 4 cm long, 2 ~ 3 cm in diameter, with 3 ~ 5 cracks at the top, thick leathery, very brittle, brown and black in appearance, with longitudinal wrinkles, and grayish yellow short fluff inside. 5 petals, shriveled or broken, with brown or dark brown face, stellate hair, reddish brown inside and less stellate hair; Stamens are numerous, arranged in multiple rows, connate at the base, and anthers are kidney-shaped. Slight breath, light and sweet taste. It is best to have large and complete flowers, and the color is brown. Function of nature and taste: light, astringent and flat. Clearing heat, promoting diuresis and detoxicating. Used for diarrhea, dysentery, bloody collapse and sore poison. The usual dosage is 5 ~ 10g. Note: The bark of kapok is used as medicine in Guangdong, which is called Guangdong Pittosporum bark. Bitter in taste and flat in nature, it has the functions of expelling wind, removing dampness, dredging collaterals and killing insects. Treat rheumatism, arthralgia, dysentery, toothache and scabies. ① Materia Medica of Haiyao: Treating lumbago and leg pain, intractable leg and knee pain, cholera, red eyes and white dysentery, bloody dysentery and scabies. ② "Rihuazi Materia Medica": Treat the pain of vascular paralysis and decoct and wash the red eyes. 3 "Kaibao Materia Medica": the main cholera is evil, long red and white, except sweet scabies. Toothworm is painful, contain it in water, and wash your eyes with water to remove redness and swelling of the skin. ④ "Outline": It can activate the meridians, reach the affected area, enter the blood, dispel wind and kill insects. ⑤ Collection of Lingnan Materia Medica: promoting granulation and relieving pain, dispersing blood and cooling skin, and traumatic injury. ⑥ Nanning Medical Journal: detumescence, blood stasis and pain relief. Treat cough and stop postpartum blood stasis pain. ⑦ "Guizhou herbs": clearing away heat, removing blood stasis, detoxifying and promoting granulation. Treat carbuncle and fracture of breast. Function: clearing away heat, promoting diuresis and detoxifying. Used for diarrhea, dysentery, bloody collapse and sore poison. Taste: light, astringent and flat. Various factions discussed 1, "Essentials of Raw Medicinal Materials": white is better for dysentery. 2, "Materia Medica Seeking the Original": Red people go to red dysentery, white people treat white dysentery, and the same Wuyi tea is often drunk. 3, "Lingnan Materia Medica Collection": Summer. 4. New version of Chinese medicine: diuresis and stomach strengthening. 5, "Nanning Pharmacology": to damp heat. Treatment of bloody collapse, gold wound. 6, "Guangxi Chinese Medicine": to remove dampness and poison, treat malignant sores. 7. Handbook of Chinese herbal medicines commonly used in Guangzhou army: clearing heat and promoting diuresis, treating enteritis and bacillary dysentery.