Living through Covid-19 #12: Yulan玉兰Magnolia: Jade of the Earth

Описание: This earliest flower on the earth is a blessing for life on earth.
Yulan玉兰Magnolia, is one of the earliest trees on earth, dating back to 20 - 95 million years. It came even before bees, its flowers evolved to attract them and other insects like beetles for pollination.
Magnolia blooms first in the spring, along with forsythia and honeysuckles… Chinese also call it 望春watching spring.
It’s also called 辛夷花, a main ingredient in Chinese medicine for allergies, cold, flue, sinus infection, lung infection, headaches caused by sinus. The flower buds can make tea and porridge. If there is a fever and sore throat, we add forsythia and honeysuckle, all the early spring blossoms, to make herbal tea.
Magnolia bark is the major ingredient for GI problems: bloating, stomach pain, indigestion, diarrhea, constipation…
Its seeds are rich with oil for cosmetic and industrial purpose.
It’s anti-inflammation, bacteria, fungi and virus.
Its trunk is harvested for furniture and sculpture.
It absorbs the pollution in the air and water and neutralize it.
Chinese named it yulan, jade orchid, as a symbol for beauty, integrity and persistence, like lotus flower. In spring, every home, temple and royal garden is full of yulan fragrance and colors.
It’s the city flower of Shanghai.
It graces almost every part of the world, with many varieties.
But the most magnificent kind lives in America’s south, along the Lower Mississippi: magnolia grandiflora. It has the largest and most fragrant of all blossoms, grows up to 80 feet tall with a crown spreading 30 to 40 feet.
It’s the jewel of the South, state flower of Mississippi.
I call it Jade of the Earth.