Paper Mulberry (Broussonetia Papyrifera) カジノキ（梶の木）

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I was photographing fruits on a Japanese dogwood tree and then these strange shaped leaves under the tree caught my eye. These are leaves of paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera). The leaves are lobed with leaf margins sharply toothed, but they can be variable, like unlobed, round or heart-shaped, which is like Dendropanax trifidus leaves, which change from a lobed to an ovate shape.

Paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera)　カジノキ（梶の木）

Japanese Mazus (Mazus Pumilus) トキワハゼ（常磐爆）

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So cute and so hardy! These are Japanese mazus (Mazus pumilus). They stopped producing flowers in summer but have started to flower again as the weather gets cooler. Despite such tininess, the plant's seed pods burst🤯 open, which is why it's called tokiwa haze, meaning "evergreen burst." I want to see the bursts someday.    

4/30/2024

Ring-Cupped Oak (Quercus Glauca) アラカシ（粗樫）

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Ring-cupped oak or Japanese blue oak trees (Quercus glauca) in my neighborhood have started to produce acorns. Oak trees are known for acorns but ring-cupped oak trees produce beautiful cylindrical flowers and red shoots looking like the head of Pteranodon.

Ring-cupped oak (Quercus glauca)　アラカシ（粗樫）

Red Spider Lily (Lycoris Radiata) ヒガンバナ（曼珠沙華/彼岸花）

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A few days ago, it was terribly hot and today it's so cool. Autumn has finally arrived in Japan and red spider lilies (Lycoris radiata) have started to flower! 

Despite their beauty, however, red spider lilies are associated with death in Japan for an unfair but understandable reason. Although cremation is the most popular now, burial used to be common in Japan and therefore red spider lilies were planted to keep moles and other animals away from bodies because the plant's bulbs are poisonous. Spider lilies are called "higan bana," meaning "flowers during the higan period." "Higan" is a Buddhist holiday, i.e., three days before and after both the Spring equinox and Autumnal equinox. 

2024/9/24

9/26/2024

9/26/2024

Red spider lily　彼岸花

Japanese Winterberry (Ilex Serrata) ウメモドキ（梅擬）

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

These are Japanese winterberry flowers (Ilex serrata). Despite their cute smallness, i.e., 3 - 4 mm in diameter, however, the Japanese winterberry is known more for its red fruits produced from September to December. These flowers remind me of longstalk holly flowers, which makes sense. They're both in the Ilex or holly genus.

Japanese winterberry (Ilex serrata)　ウメモドキ（梅擬）

Colorful Bitter Gourd カラフルゴーヤ

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

It's not a colorful doughnut. It's not a gigantic, colorful snail, either. It's a ripe bitter gourd! Bitter gourds mostly grow like the one in the third photo but they are all different like we are. The last photo is of a home bitter gourd for ants! 

A colorful bitter gourd　カラフルなゴーヤ

A home for ants　アリの家？

Female Scarlet Skimmer (Crocothemis Servilia) ショウジョウトンボ（猩々蜻蛉）

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This is a female scarlet skimmer (ruddy marsh skimmer or Crocothemis servilia), or so I believe. In contrast to its name, the dragonfly is not scarlet because it's female. Only male scarlet skimmers are scarlet and each has a territory around a pond. I should find a pond first to see a really "scarlet" scarlet skimmer.  

A female scarlet skimmer　ショウジョウトンボの雌

Grasshopper (Atractomorpha) オンブバッタ（負飛蝗）

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

These are grasshoppers. Simple and clear. The issue is, however, their relationship. For example, a man passing by me taking these photos said that they were a parent and a child. Ha ha! He's mistaken. They are a male and a female grasshoppers and you know what? The bigger one is female, meaning a female grasshopper is piggybacking a male counterpart😆! And that's why in Japan, the grasshopper is called "piggybacking grasshopper." I can't laugh at the guy however. I also assumed that they were a mother and a child😂!

A female grasshopper is piggybacking a male counterpart　雌が雄をおんぶ

  

Schoenoplectiella Triangulatus Roxb. カンガレイ（寒枯藺）

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

This is a Schoenoplectiella triangulatus Roxb. The plant is known to have stems of which the cross-section is triangular. I wanted to see the cross section but I couldn't break the stem.

Inflorescence　花序

Common Straight Swift (Parnara guttata) イチモンジセセリ（一文字挵）

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Butterflies usually fold wings when resting as opposed to moths, which rest generally with open wings. Common straight swifts (Parnara guttata) are butterflies but they sometimes rest with open wings likely to absorb the warmth of the sun like in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th photos. 

The butterflies are called "ichimonji seseri" in Japanese, meaning "straight line skipper" after their white spots in a straight line while small branded swifts (Pelopidas mathias), which have white spots in a circle, are called "chabane seseri," meaning "brown wing skipper."   

With open wings　羽を広げたイチモンジセセリ

Sawfly ハバチ（羽蜂）

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

The orange, blue, and pink colors (2nd photo) and then the small but bright orange and black bug on a green leaf caught my eye. 

Sawfly　ハバチ（羽蜂）

Lycoris Albiflora (White Spider Lily) 白花曼殊沙華（シロバナマンジュシャゲ）

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

These are white spider lilies. A white spider lily is not a sibling of a red one, but a cross-breed of a red and a yellow (i.e., lycoris traubii) spider lilies. It's interesting that a child of a red and a yellow flowers is white.

A red spider lily is called "autumnal equinox flower" or "heaven or hell flower" in Japanese while a yellow spider lily "Zhong Kui lily" as its petals look like the beard of Zhong Kui, a demon hunter and Chinese deity who fights ghosts. 

In Japan, because of their toxicity, spider lilies were planted around graveyards to keep moles and other animals away from buried bodies but were also used to induce abortion.

Lycoris albiflora 白花曼殊沙華

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白花曼殊沙華です。赤い曼殊沙華の兄弟かと思ったらそうではなくて、赤い曼殊沙華と黄色の鍾馗水仙（リコリス）の自然雑種です。

鍾馗水仙（リコリス）の「鍾馗」は、花弁が波打っている様子を鐘馗ヒゲに例えたことに由来します。

曼珠沙華（彼岸花）は、その毒性のため、日本で昔まだ土葬が一般的だった時代にモグラなどから遺体を守るために墓の周りに植えられました。また堕胎薬としても使われていたようです。

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Waterleaf (Talinum Fruticosum) and a Pale Grass Blue ハゼラン（爆蘭）と大和シジミチョウ

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I had to go there three times to take these photos yesterday. First, at 5 a.m. while on an early morning walk. Second, at 9 a.m. before going to a nearby library. Then, at 3 p.m. because at 5 a.m. and 9 a.m., the flowers were closed as shown in the last photo and as suggested by one of its Japanese names "sanjiso," meaning "3 o'clock plant," which I didn't know at these times. They are waterleaves (Talinum fruticosum). I walk by them almost every morning but didn't know until the day before when happening to walk by them at around 3 p.m. While I was photographing the waterleaf, a pale grass blue came to play with me, flying from one flower to another.  

A pale grass blue on waterleaf　ハゼラン（爆蘭）と大和シジミチョウ

Two Caterpillars Resting Side by Side 仲良く休憩？

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Something was strange with the leaf of a Chinese tallow tree. See? Something was protruding from the tip. I went behind it, finding two caterpillars resting on the leaf side by side (last photo). I wanted to photograph them from right behind but gave up. I didn't want to disturb them. 

Yellow Damselfly (Ceriagrion Melanurum) キイトトンボ（黄糸蜻蛉）

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

It resembles an Asian bluetail (Ischnura asiatica) but the body color is different. The Asian bluetail is blue while this one is yellow green. This is a yellow damselfly (Ceriagrion melanurum). Asian bluetails and yellow damselflies are both difficult to find because they're so thin. While blinking after taking these photos, I lost sight of it.

Yellow damselfly (Ceriagrion melanurum)　キイトトンボ（黄糸蜻蛉）

Parent and Child Caterpillars? 親子イモムシ？

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I thought of it as a stem or a small twig, but it had something protruding and orange spots. It resembled a lot the black caterpillar I saw a few days ago. Then I realized that it was also a small caterpillar (2nd photo)! It's like a child of the bigger one, isn't it? The bigger one looks like holding the smaller one in its mouth, but both were holding on to a stem separately and independently!! By the way, the caterpillar I saw a few days ago was still on the same leaf in the same place (3rd photo). I didn't know that caterpillars could be that patient!   

Parent and child?　親子？

The one I saw a few days ago　数日前に見たイモムシ

Giant Crinum Lily (Crinum Asiaticum) ハマユウ（浜木綿）

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This is a giant crinum lily (Crinum asiaticum), a plant in the Amaryllidaceae family, the same as red spider lilies. Also like red spider lilies, giant crinum lilies are toxic in their entirety. The thin orangish things on the flower are stamens.

Giant crinum lily (Crinum asiaticum)　ハマユウ（浜木綿）

The stamens are brownish　雄蕊は茶色

Caterpillar イモムシ

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

It's been several days since I last took an early morning walk. A typhoon was over Japan at the weekend, bringing heavy rain sporadically. But it's changed to a tropical storm now, so I went out this morning and found this 2cm long caterpillar at the park where I usually do squats. Leaves were swinging naturally in the wind, like lulling the caterpillar to sleep.