Qidong Daylily

Qidong Daylily

Qidong Daylily is a protected geographical indication product.

　　Daylily

　　Also known as golden needle, it is historically referred to as "forget-worry" or "xuan grass." It belongs to the perennial herbaceous plant genus Hemerocallis in the Liliaceae family, sprouting leaves twice a year. When the buds are about to bloom, they are harvested, steamed, and dried to create the preserved golden-yellow flowers, which are easy to store. Daylilies are rich in nutrients, affordable, and can be eaten fresh or dried. They have a delicious flavor and medicinal value, offering benefits such as nourishing blood, calming the liver, promoting diuresis, aiding digestion, and stimulating saliva production. Hengyang has a long history of growing daylilies, with cultivation dating back to the first year of the Hongzhi era of the Ming Dynasty (1488). Counties (cities) under Hengyang’s jurisdiction—including Qidong, Hengnan, Leiyang, Changning, and urban suburbs—have established daylily production bases. Among them, Qidong County has the largest planting area, accounting for 65.8% of the city’s total daylily base. In 1983, the city’s total daylily output reached 2,900 tons, with a total output value exceeding 10 million yuan. The production ranked second in the country, only behind Shaoyang City.

　　Daylilies, also known as golden needles, forget-worry grass, or hemerocallis flowers, are a premium vegetable flower with high nutritional value and multiple health benefits. Qidong County has over 500 years of daylily cultivation history. During the Qing Dynasty, the region where Qidong is now located began offering daylilies as a local tribute to the imperial court. Ji Xiaolan, a renowned Qing Dynasty official and witty scholar famed for his eloquence, loved eating daylilies. He praised them, saying: “Daylilies are truly a fine vegetable—crisp, fragrant, and endlessly delicious. Those who eat them regularly become smarter.”

　　In the mid-1980s, researchers primarily from the Qidong County Agricultural Science Institute in Hunan’s Qidong Daylily Base conducted in-depth studies on breeding new daylily varieties and high-yield cultivation techniques. They developed a large number of new daylily varieties, categorized into early, mid, and late maturing types. Early-maturing varieties include: April Flower, May Flower, Early Morning Flower, and Early Tea Mountain Strip Flower (4 types in total); mid-maturing varieties include: Short Arrow Mid-Season Flower, Tall Arrow Mid-Season Flower, Fierce Flower, White Flower, Eggplant Flower, Fork Flower, Long Handle Flower, Black Mouth Flower, Tea Strip Flower, Firecracker Flower, Cai Chao Flower, Red Vein Flower, Chong Li Flower, Club Flower, Money Flower, Green Leaf Flower, Thick Arrow Flower, High Ridge Flower, and Long Mouth Flower (20 types in total); late-maturing varieties include: Inverted Arrow Flower, Fine Leaf Flower, Mid-Autumn Flower, and Large Leaf Flower (4 types in total). Through research and practice, researchers found that Chong Li Flower, Fierce Flower, and White Flower had the highest yields and produced the best-quality daylilies. As a result, these three varieties are now the primary ones cultivated in the Qidong area of Hunan.

　　1. Fierce Flower, also known as Large Variety Flower, is a cultivated variety from Qidong County, Hunan Province. It is mid-maturing, with a full growth cycle of 190 days. Its leaves are upright, dark green, 75–95 cm long, and 13–17 mm wide. The flower buds are yellow, 10.5–13 cm long and 7–8 mm thick. Every 50–60 dried flowers weigh 50 grams, with a drying rate of 18%. The flower stalks are about 110 cm tall, yielding around 60 flower buds per stalk. It is highly drought-resistant, has few pests, and grows quickly.

　　2. Chong Li Flower, also known as Large Leaf Flower or Black Mouth Flower, is one of the main cultivated varieties in Qidong County, Hunan Province. It has strong growth vigor, relatively soft leaves that often droop from the middle, and flower stalks about 150 cm tall. Harvesting begins in mid-to-late June and ends in early September, with a harvest period of about 70 days. It boasts strong disease and drought resistance, with minimal bud drop. The flower buds are large, up to 12 cm long, with thick petals and a high drying rate. Every 60 fresh flower buds yield 50 grams of dried flowers, and 5.5 kg of fresh buds produce 1 kg of dried flowers. The buds are yellow but have slightly purplish-red tips, turning blackish-brown after drying—commonly called Black Mouth Flower. This variety is lower grade, grows slowly, and takes longer to reach peak flowering after planting. However, once established, it can be harvested continuously for many years. It is high-yielding, typically producing 350–400 kg of dried flowers per mu, with yields reaching up to 475 kg.

　　3. White Flower is an excellent variety from Qidong County, Hunan Province. It is mid-maturing, with a full growth cycle of 196 days. Its leaves are flat, light green, 91–110 cm long, and 19–20 mm wide. The flower stalks are 150 cm tall, with 60–100 flowers per stalk. Harvesting begins in early June and ends in early September, lasting about 90 days. The flower buds are 10–11 cm long and 6–8 mm thick. The dried flowers are light yellow, with brownish-red tips, and a drying rate of 22%. It has strong resistance to diseases and pests, is drought-tolerant, grows quickly, has minimal bud drop, and strong regenerative capacity. Dried flower yields can reach up to 400 kg per mu.

　　Daylily seedlings from Qidong, Hunan, are suitable for various soil types, but red-yellow soils yield the best results, averaging over 800 jin (400 kg) of dried flowers per mu (5 jin of fresh flowers yield 1 jin of dried flowers). The optimal period for rootstock transplantation is the lunar December each year, while the picking season runs from late May to late August in the solar calendar. The best daily picking time is before 10 a.m.; picking after 10 a.m. can cause the flowers to bloom. Their effective growing period is 9–10 years, after which the land should be plowed and replanted.

　　Qidong has now developed into the largest daylily planting base in China. Starting from Qidong County and passing through several major towns—Fengshiyuan, Baishishi, Xiangguling, Huangtupu, Guanjiazui, Buyunqiao, and Jiangjiaqiao—the daylily production areas are concentrated around Guanjiazui Town, extending to cover Huangtupu and Buyunqiao. The county produces 80,000 tons of dried daylilies annually, with annual sales exceeding 1 billion yuan, making it a major source of Qidong’s agricultural economy.

　　Currently, active daylily companies and economic entities in Qidong mainly include: Hengyang Yingwu Daylily Group and Qidong Forget-Worry Daylily Sales Center. Among them, Hengyang Yingwu Daylily Group is well-known among daylily sellers and is a national key leading enterprise in agricultural industrialization. Qidong Forget-Worry Daylily Sales Center is a rural cooperative organization with over 3,000 mu of bases. It promotes the Qidong daylily industry through a cooperative model where villagers grow daylilies to drive company sales. Annual sales exceed 2 million yuan, benefiting over 2,000 households in the village and generating significant economic benefits.

　　Qidong Daylilies are distinguished by their large roots, early market availability, highest yields, abundant supply, and consistent quality.

　　The main dried varieties of Qidong Daylilies include raw dried flowers, cooked needles, and dehydrated medicinal daylilies. Among them, dehydrated medicinal daylilies account for over 90% of the national market. These are primarily used for pickled vegetable processing, hot pot seasonings, and more.

　　Qidong Daylily is a protected geographical indication product. The proposed original production area of Qidong Daylily is designated as the administrative region under Qidong County.