Bladder or Rice Dumpling? - Silene Vulgaris (Bladder Campion) 白玉草（シラタマソウ）

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

This is silene vulgaris, bladder campion or maidenstears. I've fallen in love at first glance with this little white five-petaled flower (each petal is divided into two) with a greenish balloon😊

It took more than two weeks to find out what this flower is, and that was very unusual for me because I usually let it go if I cannot identify a flower in a week, but I couldn't do that for this flower. And finally, two weeks after I had first seen this, I found the name!!

Silene vulgaris シラタマソウ

Bladder campion and Oriental lady's thumb 白玉草とイヌタデ

Do they look like bladders or rice-flour balls! 膀胱？白玉？

A horsefly resting nearby すぐそばで見かけたアブ

Silene vulgaris or bladder campion is called in Japan "rice-flour ball plant." I couldn't find why but I guess that's because of the similar ball shapes. So, in English, the flower is compared to a bladder while in Japanese, a sticky rice-flour dumpling.... What a difference!! Of course my vote will go to a "rice-flour dumpling" analogy. 

I loved these small sticky rice-flour dumplings when I was little. My mom often made dozens of them for fruit punch for my birthday. They are not sweet themselves, but with orange, pineapple and peach, and their juice, they were sweet. My favorite dessert😊!!

If you have a chance to come to Japan, you should try the rice balls. You can eat them as toppings on Japanese shaved ice.  

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白玉草（シラタマソウ）です。可愛いですよね。一目ぼれしました。でもそれからが大変！！ 最初は名前が分からず、分かるまでに２週間もかかってしまいました｡｡｡

英語では「silene vulgaris」または「bladder campion」 というのですが、「bladder campion」の「bladder」は「膀胱」という意味。「膀胱」と「白玉」｡｡｡ やっぱ「白玉」でしょう。

白玉といえば子供の頃、誕生日に母がよく白玉入りフルーツポンチを作ってくれました。大好きでした😊

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