Two or three hundred years ago, the Rosa roxburghii tratt has already drawn the attentions of literary men. The most popular poem about the fruit is “Ode to the Rosa roxburghii tratt”, written by Zhao Yijiong, a number one scholar in Qingyan Town in Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty. It says: “Growing in the wild the Rosa roxburghii tratt refuses to be potted, and though with bright color its flower won’t go inside vermilion gates. However, with water in dragon well the fruit is made into wine, which is honored to be supplied to the emperor.” Zhao Yijiong was the first national number one scholar from Yunnan and Guizhou provinces who have passed the ancient provincial civil service examination. The poem was written in his childhood, which showed his great talent at an early age.
Rosa roxburghii tratt has had high nutrition and medicine value since ancient times. As it is recorded in A Supplement to the Compendium of Materia Medica and Dictionary of the Chinese Traditional Medicine, Rosa roxburghii tratt’s flowers, fruits, leaves, seeds can be used as medicine as they are beneficial for the stomach, digestion and nourishing functions, and its root bark are effective in curing diarrhea. The Book of Guizhou Province has the detailed description and narration of the plant shape, character, place of origin of it.
During the anti-Japanese war period, Rosa roxburghii tratt has become a natural nutrition pack for soldiers fighting in the war. In 1942, Dr. Luo Dengyi’s team firstly found out its nutrition value and applied it effectively. In order to address the public and soldiers’ problem of lacking nutrition during the war period, professor Luo Dengyi collected all kinds of wild fruits and vegetables in places such as Meitan and Huaxi in Guizhou province, and then analyzed the nutrition components. He aimed to find more wild food resources that can be used to relieve the public’s pain of suffering from starvation and help the people in misery. In his research, he found out that the wild Rosa roxburghii tratt in Guizhou contains rich vitamin C, vitamin P and vitamin K. Among these, vitamin C is as high as 1980-3750mg in per 100g pulp, way higher than in any other fruits and vegetables. And this has caught great attention from the academic circle both at home and abroad.
In the beginning of reform and opening up, Rosa roxburghii tratt provided solid endorsement for “Chinese women’s volleyball team spirit”. From 1981 to 1986, Chinese women’s volleyball team won a 5 consecutive championship, becoming the first team with this glory in the world’s volleyball history. The “Chinese women’s volleyball team spirit” have encouraged and inspired generations of Chinese people. At that time, with the determination of “winning honor for the country”, the Chinese women’s volleyball team trained very hard and fight tenaciously. Leaders of “the Central Sport Committee” hoped to improve the nutritional supplements for the Chinese women volleyball players. To finish this glorious political task, nutritionists across the nation conducted repeated studies and all recommended “Guizhou Rosa roxburghii tratt” in the end. Guizhou Agricultural College’s Huaxi Beverage Plant undertook the processing of “Rosa roxburghii tratt pulp beverage” for Chinese women volleyball players, and this has significantly improved their physical conditions.
In the new era, Rosa roxburghii tratt industry becomes a healthy, modern and ecological industry featuring the province’s efforts in poverty reduction, rural revitalization and ecological environment improvement. In 2019, Guizhou provincial Party Secretary Zhigang put forward the idea of “gathering the strength of the whole province in developing the Rosa roxburghii tratt industry”. Provincial governor Yiqin put forward the idea of “making the Rosa roxburghii tratt industry a big industry that enriches people and alleviates poverty”. Leading companies set a good example and improve the linkage between production and sales and branding. The benefit linking mechanism connecting “enterprise + cooperative + base + Underprivileged household” are improved. We advance poverty reduction through the Rosa roxburghii tratt industry and through consumption, and make the Rosa roxburghii tratt industry a healthy, modern and ecological industry that enrich farmers and improve ecological environment as well.
Rosa roxburghii tratt fruit is rich in nutrition, and it is praised as a nutrition library. It is rich in Vitamin C, superoxide dismutase（SOD）, peroxidase（POD）, polyphenols, flavoniods of Rosa roxburghii tratt, polysaccharides from Rosa roxburghii Tratt, triterpenoids from Rosa roxburghii tratt, amino acid and microelements etc. Among them, its most prominent feature is its rich Vitamin C. As the “the King of Vitamin C”, its Vitamin C is the highest among all fruits: it contains 841.58～3541.13 milligrams of Vitamin C in 100 grams of fresh Rosa roxburghii tratt fruit. It is 500 times the Vitamin C of apple, 50 times that of citrus, 10 times that of kiwi fruit. These nutrients are inseparable with its extensive clinical application and application value in food.
In recent years, experts have been actively conducted basic research in Rosa roxburghii tratt resources and have made certain progress. Their research mainly covers the following aspects:
First of all, it illustrated the main active substance of Rosa roxburghii tratt.
Secondly, it has the supportive therapeutic efficacy on cancer.
Thirdly, it is beneficial to diabetic patient.
Fourthly, its effect of hangover alleviation and liver protection is obvious.
Fifthly, its effect of improving intestinal function is obvious.
In addition, Rosa roxburghii tratt has certain scientific data support in anti-oxidation, anti-aging, whitening, lipid-lowering and anti-atherosclerosis, and also has good application in the treatment of lead discharging and fluorosis.
In summary, the function of Rosa Roxburghii Tratt can be summarized in four sentences: to prevent and fight cancer and lower hyperpiesia, hyperglycemia and hyperlipemia; to maintain beauty, keep young and relieves constipation; to improve sleep and cure the ulceration; to alleviate the hangover, protect the liver and ward off fatigue.