The richly endowed Changbai Mountain boasts a great variety of plants,and the vegetation is well preserved.So it is often referred to as "a natural museum"and "a great treasure-house". In the vast Changbai forest,the ancient trees tower into the sky and shut out,the cloud and the sun.They cover almost all the species of trees are the graceful beauty pine,the huge and luxuriant Korean pine,the tall and erect white birch,the hardy anf variouspostured sargent juniper,and the snow-braving robust black birch. Changbai is a world of exotic flowers and rare herbs.In early spring the bingling flower and the pasqueflower break through the ice and snow,and in midsummer the whole mountain becomes a sea of flowers.The plants in Changbai are od fairly high economy value.For one thing ,thr medicinal herbs number over 870,and edible plants over 260.THe saline cistanche (Cocally known as "never old plant")and yellow tutular flower are"magic herbs" to improve the sexual function and buikd up vital energy.THe pteridophyte is rich in nourishment and help to enrich the body fluid and energy.It is therefor referred to ad "auspicious vegetable" and king of wild herbs". In ;ate autumn,one sees a riot of color in the mountain.The trees are laden with wild grape,schisandra chinensis,cowberry hawthorn and other wild fruits,and air is heavey with the intoxicating aroma of fruit. There are more than 300 kinds of wild nectariferous plants in Changbai,among which linder and shrub lespedeza are known in and out of China.The variety of ornamental plants amounts to nearly 100.Alpine opium poppy,sticta azalea and Koreanazalea,for example,are widely loved.Carved azalea roots,cream-colored and dainty,free from rotting and cracking,are ideal ornaments. |
