APPENDIX

from WANG Xingyi_Triple-Marginalizaed

CONCLUSION

01 Unnamed plant

When visiting mines, most of the plants growing on the mountains that I do not know the name, the plant in the following image is one of them. It can grow near the open pit; most of them that I saw grown out from the rubble, which is really interesting.

I desire to know what kind of plant is it. So, I search this image on the Internet, found nothing. Then looking for it in Panzhihua plants library, I found nothing. I started to ask people around me, finally got some information. Laoman (one of my friends) told me that some people call it Camel grass. This plant is very drought tolerant, just as I see. It has a sour taste (he must have tasted it but without poisoning). However, he does not know the name either.

I haven’t given up yet, and then I asked Nine, who used to live in the Lanjian community. He told me that he had no idea the name of this plant. But he said that when he lived in a rural area, people usually used it to feed chicken. It is indeed non-toxic!

In fact, I did get several names of it, like Sorrel, Milk plasma grass. However, using these names, I always searched for another sort of plants.

But, why the name is so important for us?

THE STORIES OF PLANTS

02 Plants living with mine

This one, I think that I have known it before. It is sisal hemp. I know about it because I met an “alcoholic” before, then I started to know Mezcal, Tequila and Pulque. Agaves are amazing plants. However, in this area, I have to know it is an invasive plant.

These sisals were planted here by some departments because sisal is highly drought tolerant and has the ability to grow. So it can spread quickly over this land. Some documents say that planting this plant in patches creates a forest fire-break and is also suitable as greenery on both sides of the road. But, who knows? Mikania micrantha was introduced many years before it was discovered to be a powerful and destructive invasive plant.

Sisals are not blue agaves, and if it ever grows over an entire mountain, perhaps we cannot take it and brew it into Tequila, can we?

Agave americana Linn

03 ARTIFICIAL OR WILDLY

Standing on this hill, you can see the whole mine. There is a completely deserted camp called the “Shizi Mountain Blast Command Centre”. It is said that the blasting was carried out from this hill. Just “said”. When the camp was built, a variety of flowers were planted to enhance the ornamental effect. They are all dead now, and none of them is alive. The picture above is what they look like now. Of course, the mines are not so toxic to make them die. On the same hills, those wild plants grow so well that they stay bright green even in dry winter conditions.

Flowers grown only for ornamental purposes do not bring long-term enjoyment, so what is the purpose of growing them? And what is meant by ‘ornamental value’?