Chaenomeles Speciosa (Flowering Quince) 木瓜（ボケ）

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

This is chaenomeles speciosa, or more commonly flowering quince, Chinese quince, or Japanese quince. The red color is so pretty, isn't it!!

Chaenomeles speciosa 木瓜

Commonly known as "flowering quince," "Chinese quince" or "Japanese quince" ボケ 

The buds are pretty, too! 蕾もカワイイ！

Its fruit looks like a gourd 実は瓜やメロンに似ている

I first thought they were Japanese apricot flowers but the tree is one meter high and the pistils and stamens are different from those of prunus mume (i.e., Japanese apricot scientific name). 

Flowering quince is called in Japan "boke," meaning dementia, but has nothing to with this symptom, but was named after the similarity of its fruit (in the fourth photo) to a gourd called "moke." The English name "chaenomeles speciosa" also indicates such relationship, i.e., "meles" of "chaenomeles" means melon😊. 

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木瓜（ボケ）です。最初、紅梅と思ったのですが背が低く、花芯が梅とは違っていたのでググったら出てきました。赤色が鮮やかです。

語源は「木瓜（モケ）」。実（4枚目の写真）が似ているからで、それが「ボケ」に転じたそうです。「呆けている」とは無関係でした😅。ちなみに英語の「chaenomeles speciosa」の「meles」はメロンを意味しています。西欧でも日本でも、木瓜の実は瓜やメロンに似ていると思われていたんですね😊。

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