莲是我国十大名花之一,栽培历史悠久,是世界上较早的被子植物之一。1973年,在浙江省余姚县罗江公社发现的新石器时代的“河姆渡文化”遗址中,发现了莲的花粉化石,经碳14同位素测定,证实至今已有7000余年。同年,在河南省郑州市大河村“仰韶文化”房基遗址中发掘出两枚莲子,这两枚莲子在烧火台上与一罐炭化了的粮食在一起,距今已有5025±100年历史。早在公元前6世纪的《诗经》中就有“彼泽之陂,有蒲与荷”的记载;在2600年前《管子》一书中记有“五沃之土生莲”。新中国成立以来,许多省市先后发掘出古代莲子。50年代初,在辽宁省新金县(原名普兰店)泡子屯的泥炭土层中,首次发掘出一批古代莲子,经碳14同位素测定,证实其寿命为915±80年(注:1982年,美国加州大学植物生理学家简·舍恩——米勒教授,测定我国辽东半岛最早出土的莲子,其寿命为1288年,误差为271年)。1951年春,经 Lotus is one of China’s top ten famous flowers, cultivation has a long history, is one of the earlier angiosperms in the world. In 1973, a neolithic “Hemudu culture” site was discovered in the Luojiang commune of Yuyao County, Zhejiang Province. Pollen fossils from lotus were found. The carbon isotope determination confirmed that it has been more than 7,000 years. In the same year, two lotus seeds were excavated from the site of the “Yangshao Culture” house in Dahe Village, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province. These two lotus seeds were found on the burning fire with a can of carbonized grain. Up to now, there have been 5025 ± 100 Year history. As early as the 6th century BC, the Book of Songs contains the records of “Pei’s Poetry, Po and He”; in “Guan Zi” . Since the founding of new China, many provinces and cities have unearthed ancient lotus seeds. In the early 1950s, a batch of ancient lotus seeds was excavated for the first time in a peat soil layer in Xinjian County, Liaoning Province (formerly known as Pulandian), dating back to the carbon-14 isotope, confirming its life span of 915 ± 80 years , Jane Schoen-Miller, a plant physiologist from the University of California, USA, measured the earliest lotus seeds excavated in Liaodong Peninsula of China with a life expectancy of 1288 and an error of 271 years. Spring of 1951, after