Liping Water Fern

Liping Water Fern

　　Liping Water Fern is a specialty of Liping County in Qiannan Prefecture, Guizhou Province. With a sweet taste and tender texture, every part of the plant is edible, offering a delicate and delicious flavor. As a distinctive and tasty dish often served during main meals in Liping, it's worth trying when dining there.

　　Liping Water Fern is a type of fern and among the earliest groups of land plants to appear on Earth, with a history of over 40 million years. It grows in cool, damp river valleys. The fern is mainly produced in areas such as Wangmeng, Chaoyang, Yuping, and Laocun. In fertile soil, it can grow over a foot long, though it typically reaches only about five inches.

　　Historical records indicate that as early as the beginning of China’s Zhou Dynasty, there are accounts of Boyi and Shuqi picking ferns on Shouyang Mountain and surviving on them. Ferns are known to strengthen the spleen, dispel phlegm and dampness, and offer benefits such as cooling the body, promoting urination, aiding weight loss, and slowing aging. Water fern, also called fine fern, is considered a superior variety among ferns. According to experts, water fern is quite rare in Guizhou Province.