A true female warrior —- Saussurea medusa

Saussurea medusa , also known as Jellyfish Saussurea involucrata , Xia Gu Bei, is a perennial and repeatedly fruiting herbaceous plant in the Asteraceae family of the angiosperms phylum. It is mainly distributed in Sichuan and Tibet, northwest Yunnan, Gansu, Qinghai and other areas. It often grows on rocky slopes, high mountain rocky beaches, and ice and snow gravel belts at an altitude of 4500-5600 meters. Its growth period is from May to August every year, and it takes 4-5 years for it to mature.

The Saussurea medusa, who grows tenaciously on the top of high mountains, is a true female warrior in the plateau plant kingdom. Its Latin name is Saussurea medusa. Among them, Medusa, also known as Medusa in ancient Greek mythology, vividly expresses its survival resilience, and descrobes its apperance.

Medusa, a mortal, young and pure, with long hair and dazzling beauty, had a very unfortunate life experience. She was bullied by the sea god, envied by Athena, turned into a monster, and had her head chopped off. Despite this, her barbaric appearance and deadly gaze still made her a woman full of vitality. In the words of feminists, the basilisk is synonymous with powerful women, “she can become the map for us to cross fear, cross the abyss of anger, and enter us as the source of female power.”

What does the spirit of women look like? It is slow, gentle, not glaring, not penetrating. Its exterior is gentle and gentle, while its interior is tough. It can withstand the scorching heat, cold, wind and rain, the scorching sun, and the attacks of ice and snow. It can endure loneliness and solitude. Its self-awareness is clear and profound, and it has its own unique expression, direct and sharp, passionate and intense. It blooms from the cracks in the stone, and once it can withstand eternity.

Among all the plateau plants, the Saussurea gossipiphora D. Don family can be said to be at the top of the “altitude contempt chain”. According to relevant information, the Saussurea gnaphalodes, located at an altitude of 6300 meters, has obtained the Guinness World Record for the highest altitude at which higher plants grow. The habitat of Saussurea medusa is not much better, the environment is very harsh.

NO1 harsh environment: The high-altitude ice edge zone is an extremely harsh place in the high-altitude ecosystem. Above the high-altitude ice edge zone is the permanent snow cover zone, where plants cannot survive. Occasionally, birds and animals pass by, but they cannot stay for a long time.

NO2 harsh environment: Gravel slopes and flowing rocky beaches on the plateau are infiltrated by melted ice and snow water. The climate here is cold, with a combination of ice and snow, low pressure, strong radiation, strong ultraviolet radiation, and strong winds and heavy rain. The altitude of alpine screes is basically over 4500 meters, and the entire slope is made of gravel, which constantly changes its position. In alpine screes , it is very difficult for plants to survive. Firstly, both water and the nutrients required for plant growth are insufficient. Secondly, although there is often intense sunlight during the daytime in summer, photosynthesis can be carried out. However, when there is no sunlight, the high-altitude slopes become very cold, and the energy produced by plant photosynthesis is only a little bit, which will be completely consumed for warmth. But Saussurea medusa can grow tenaciously under such conditions, becoming a typical alpine plant highly adapted to extreme environments.

Saussurea medusa are clearly two different animals, why are they used on the same plant? When you haven’t seen it before, you may be puzzled, but as soon as you see it, just from its appearance, the above questions will be easily solved. This is a high-altitude plant that can evoke the words “Mengmeng Da” at a glance. Its overall color appears white, resembling a jellyfish when not in bloom, with densely clustered hemispherical inflorescences appearing at the stem tips. The structure that surrounds the inflorescence like leaves and looks like leaves on the outside is its bract; The stems and leaves are densely covered with white cotton hairs, similar in color to the snow rabbit’s fur. When they bloom, they resemble a standing long haired rabbit. The entire inflorescence is purple black and blooms in the middle of the top of the bracts, surrounded by densely covered cotton bracts. There are many white hairs, like a rabbit shrinking into a ball.

But its cute and well behaved appearance is not meant to be cute, but to adapt to the extreme high-altitude environment described earlier: its leaves and flowers are covered in rabbit like fur, known as the “cotton coat structure” in botany, which can fill the internal space of plants with air and cushion the damage caused by temperature changes. Like human cotton jackets and down jackets, it is mainly used for warmth. In addition to keeping warm, cotton wool also has a purpose of preventing rainwater from washing away pollen and reducing water evaporation. ManySaussurea medusa have a purple red overall appearance on their plants, which is related to their cotton coat structure reflecting short wavelength strong radiation from the plateau. Of course, there are also Saussurea medusa that are not purple in color and have a relatively green appearance, which is related to the different environments on the high-altitude rocky beach. All these special forms and structures are meant to be strong enough to survive in harsh environments.

Saussurea medusa is a miracle and treasure in nature. It has its own toxicity and can be used as medicine for treating rheumatoid arthritis, mountain discomfort, and menstrual disorders. It is difficult for it to bloom and bear fruit naturally throughout its life, and it is already not easy to fulfill its mission. Once, its natural enemies were only harsh natural conditions, but now it has an additional ‘enemy’, which is humans. Although the plateau environment is harsh, it also has an advantage: less pollution. This plant has excellent ability to withstand extreme cold and wind and frost, but it cannot withstand pollution. In recent years, the number of people traveling and exploring on the plateau has increased, and some uncivilized behaviors have polluted the living environment of plateau organisms, causing irreversible damage to the biodiversity of the plateau. In addition, due to the exaggerated popularity and influence of Saussurea involucrata, which belongs to the Subgenus Amphilaena Lipsch. family, in medicinal herbs, Saussurea medusa similar to Saussurea involucrata are harvested in large quantities and sold in the market as snow lotus. This has put the Saussurea medusa, which is already scarce due to its slow growth rate and difficulty in reproduction, in danger of extinction. In September 2021, the “List of Key Protected Wild Plants in China” listed the Saussurea medusa as a second-class protected plant in the country. Random harvesting is illegal. I hope that when traveling to high-altitude areas, everyone should try not to damage their living environment and not pick them randomly, in order to protect this endangered plant.

Due to the harsh environment, Saussurea medusa grow and bloom slowly. From seed to seed, they undergo long-term dormancy and struggle to survive in crevices of rocks. It takes at least ten years to absorb as much nutrients as possible in order to have a chance to bloom and bear fruit. That’s why many Saussurea medusa only bloom once in their lives, and seeing them bloom often means saying goodbye to them.


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16 10 月 2024