Foreword

Introduction: Looks like corn, not 20 years ago It’s valuable, but many people go to pick it. Nowadays, it’s rare to sell it for 30 yuan per catty

The Dragon Boat Festival has passed, and the temperature is already quite sultry, because it’s the dog days of summer. Not far away either. But in rural areas, many old farmers still insist on working in the mountains even in hot weather.

Yesterday my dad asked me to accompany him to the back mountain to weed the cornfield. And when passing by the river, I discovered a plant that I hadn\’t seen for many years. It looks like corn and is commonly known as \”grass beads\”. It was worthless 20 years ago, but many people picked it and could make a door curtain in a day. Nowadays, it has become a rare commodity, and one kilogram is sold for 30 yuan. Is there still one in your hometown?

Are grass beads barley?

It is estimated that many people now see grass beads and regard them as barley growing in the wild. In fact, these are two different plants, plants of the same genus and different species.

Grass beads are also called Huihuimi, Bodhi seeds, Guanyin seeds, Coix beads, etc. They are the product of the wild Coix plant of the genus Coix. seeds. It and barley are both plants of the genus Coix in the family Poaceae. This plant looks like a corn seedling. Coix is ​​a very ancient crop. It has been cultivated and domesticated by humans for at least 6,000-10,000 years.

This plant is also widely distributed in our country, almost all over the Yangtze River Basin and Yellow River Basin. When the shells are not removed, the difference between grass beads and barley is still large, but after the shells are peeled, it is very difficult to distinguish.

Grass beads, as the name suggests, look a lot like the glass beads that children play with today. They are generally black, or black and gray, and a few are yellow or yellow-white. . The surface is smooth and hard. What is very amazing is that there is a natural hole in the middle of this fruit,so it was often used to thread bracelets, door curtains, and curtains in the past. At that time, they were often strung into Buddhist beads and were commonly known as \”Bodhi beads\”.

It used to be worthless but a lot People go picking

At that time, there were a lot of wild grass beads in the mountains. When the grass beads grew up in summer, many adults would cut them back. The plant is generally used to feed chickens, ducks and geese, and its fruit, grass beads, will be of great use.

Although grass beads were not valuable in the past because they were everywhere in the mountains, they were very practical. Many parents will let their children string it into door curtains, curtains, etc. It was very popular to hang door curtains and curtains in the house 20 years ago, and it was also the most common decoration in many families.

Since there were so many grass beads at that time, there was no need to perforate them. Just thread it through. Therefore, those who are diligent can make a door curtain in one day. But at that time, many families were unwilling to use it to make bracelets for their children, and even gave it a nickname – urine beads. It is said that children wearing such beads will wet the bed at night. Some places are even more horrifying, saying that children wearing this will suck blood.

Actually, this is all a trick played by adults. Wearing a bracelet with straw beads will not wet the bed at night, nor will it suck blood. I think many parents said this at the time, probably because they didn’t want their children to pick it because they liked it. After all, this plant often grows along rivers, which is very dangerous. At the same time, the particles of grass beads are like pearls and very hard. It is very dangerous if a child swallows them out of curiosity.

Value reference of grass beads

Although grass beads are very hard and were a common plant that was not valuable at the time, they are very valuable. Their functions are similar to barley, although they are rich in starch, although they are richer than barley. It is less, but its protein content is higher than that of barley. Among the two plants growing in the same field, the grass beads are larger than those of barley.

However, grass beads are rarely eaten by people, and later became wild plants. The main reason is that its shell is very hard. It is not suitable for consumption. The outer shell of barley is much thinner and crisper, which makes it easier to peel. It also has certain medicinal value, which is also recorded in Li Shizhen\’s \”Compendium of Materia Medica\”. /strong>

Conclusion

I heard from my dad that this kind of plant is very rare now. They are everywhere along the river, but now they are hard to find. The reason may have a lot to do with the extensive use of herbicides in recent years. It is a plant of the grass family and is easily destroyed by herbicides. In the past, there was no weeding Even if farmers pick it every year, it will still grow a lot, because as long as the plant is cut, there will be no damage.to the roots, and the seeds will still grow when they fall to the ground.

Out of curiosity, I searched for grass beads on the Internet and found that their prices are not low nowadays. A pair of straw beads bracelets can cost tens of yuan, and door curtains can cost hundreds of yuan. Even if you buy grass beads separately, costs 18-30 yuan per pound. And this store sold more than 300 copies in one month, which shows that it is still very popular. Because in recent years, many people have bought straw bead bracelets as toys, and they are also very beautiful!

Dear friends, do you still have this kind of plant in your hometown? Did you use it to pass through door curtains or bracelets when you were a child? It is estimated that many people born in the 90s and 00s do not recognize it. In summer, you can pick grass beads again. If you see them, you can pick more. They will be very beautiful to make bracelets.