A tree afraid of tickling.

Lagerstroemia indica is a common horticultural flower. There are hundreds of cultivated varieties now. According to the ancient classification, the red one is called Chiwei, the white one is called Yin Wei, and the lavender one is called Cuiwei.

0 1 the origin of Wei Zi's name

According to the Southern Song Dynasty's Fang Quan Beizu, Wei Zi's name appeared in the Tang Dynasty. "This wood was born in Lintian. Since the Tang family set up the Silunge, under the care of its roots, it was accompanied by a ci minister who waved the imperial system, hence the name Wei Zi."

In the Tang Dynasty, the central official system consisted of three provinces and six departments, and Zhongshu Province, one of the three provinces, was renamed Wei Zi Province in the Kaiyuan period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. Wei Ziguan planted a flower called Wei Zihua, and later added a grass prefix, which is Wei Zi.

Bai Juyi wrote a poem, "Who sits alone at dusk, Ziweihua to Ziweilang", which means that he is an official in Wei Zi and works overtime at night, and Ziweihua is with him in the yard.

The ornamental plants planted in the Imperial Capital Mansion must be a little superior. Yang Wanli clearly wrote the advantages of this kind of crape myrtle in his poem. "Who said it would take ten days and crape myrtle for half a year?" That is to say, this crape myrtle has a long flowering period, especially in northern China. Few trees bloom in summer, only Lagerstroemia indica can blossom in the scorching sun.

What do the flowers in Wei Zi look like?

If you carefully observe the flowers of Lagerstroemia indica, you can also find some interesting places. For example, most of our common plants bloom at 3, 4 and 5 bases.

What do you mean? For example, the flower of day lily is composed of three sepals and three petals, which is called base 3, and base 4 and base 5 are the same.

And this crape myrtle, it is six cardinal numbers, the calyx is divided into six cracks and there are six petals. Although there are dozens of stamens, the filaments of six of them are particularly long, the uppermost anther is brown, and the filaments of the other stamens are short and the anthers are yellow.

These two stamens have different functions. Short stamens are brightly colored and specially used to attract insects. The pollen they produce is basically unproductive and is paid to pollinators.

The pollen that is really used to carry on the family line comes from those six long stamens. When insects eat the pollen of short stamens, the fertile pollen of long stamens rubs them and then passes them on to the pistil of the next flower.

Is it true that Wei Zi is ticklish?

There is also a popular saying about crape myrtle that it is ticklish. If you touch the trunk with your hand, the branches will tremble. Is it true?/You don't say.

In fact, this is only because the branches of Lagerstroemia indica are relatively uniform in thickness, and the flowers are concentrated at the top of the stem, which is a bit "top-heavy". A slight airflow can make it tremble, let alone directly touch the trunk.

However, when the trunk of Lagerstroemia indica matures, the epidermis will fall off, and it feels bare and feels really good. In Youyang Miscellanies in the Tang Dynasty, it was said: "Ziwei is called Monkey Da Lang Tree by northerners, which means that it has no skin and apes can't be agile", which means that the trunk of Ziwei is too smooth for monkeys to climb.