英語の後に日本語が続きます。
These are St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum). The plant is native to Europe, west Asia, and northern Africa. It produces bright yellow flowers from June to August with long stamens as Chinese St. John's wort (Hypericum monogynum). They resemble each other but the flower size is different. The Chinese ones are bigger.
St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) came to Japan after the late 1940s and before that Japan had another St. John's wort (Hypericum erectum) native to Asia. Therefore, Hypericum perforatum is called "western Hypericum erectum," which translates into "western plant killing younger brother" after a Japanese legend that a man got so angry at his younger brother, who'd leaked an important secret of a medicine made from St. John's wort, that he killed the brother😱. Because of this legend, in Japan, St. John's wort means "grudge" and "superstition." As the legend suggests, in Japan, the stems and leaves of Hypericum erectum were used as folk medicine to stop bleeding and for other medical purposes.
Someone who can't keep their mouths shut ended up being killed in not only Japan but also in Italy. In an Italian short story "Mateo Falcone," a father kills his 10-year-old son because the son can't keep his mouth shut.
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| 2022/6/30 |
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| 2022/6/30 |
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| 2021/8/11 |
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| 2021 mid-July |
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| 2021 mid-July |
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西洋弟切草（セイヨウオトギリソウ）です。ヨーロッパ原産。1940年代後半以降に日本に来ました。ビヨウヤナギに似て雄蕊の長い黄色の花を付けますが、サイズが少し小さいです。
西洋オトギリソウという名前はオトギリソウという植物が既に日本にあったからなのですが、面白いのはオトギリソウの名の由来です。弟切草を原料とする薬に関する秘密を弟が洩らしたことに兄が激怒し、殺したのでこの名が付いたとのこと。それにしてもそれを花の名前にするか～？怖すぎです。伝説通り、茎や葉は止血などの民間薬として使われていたそうです。
ただ、秘密を守れない人が殺されてしまうのは日本だけではありません。イタリアでは、秘密を洩らした10歳の息子を父親が殺してしまいます。「マテオ・ファルコーネ」です。ご興味ある方はこちらの記事もどうぞ！
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