Autumn Golden Ginkgo Leaves 銀杏の黄葉

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Many trees currently show red or yellow leaves in Tokyo but the ginkgo tree is special for its golden leaves, especially today for their magnificent beauty against the blue sky. 

Fall Foliage 紅葉

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Yesterday, I enjoyed magnificent gradations from green to red and today gradations from green to yellow. Interestingly, in Japan, the change in the color of leaves in autumn is called "koyo," which literally means "red leaves" whether they turn red or yellow. So, these yellow leaves are in Japanese "koyo," i.e., red leaves😆.

Autumn Leaves in Japan 紅葉

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The fall foliage season is getting later and later in Japan and many trees in my neighborhood still have green leaves, but this tree has got a head start over its peers. Red leaves are beautiful but leaves just before turning completely red create magnificent gradations from green to red.  

Amur Peppervine (Ampelopsis Glandulosa) ノブドウ（野葡萄）

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I found them on a roadside (2nd photo) and had never seen such turquoise blue fruits. These are fruits of Amur peppervine (Ampelopsis glandulosa). The Amur peppervine produces green, blue, purple, pink and yellow fruits with black or brown speckles. I saw blue and purple ones, so the next thing to do is to find pink and yellow Amur peppervine fruits.  

Moonflower (Ipomoe Alba) ヨルガオ（夜顔）

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I said "Wow" and you would say so, too if you saw them. These are fruits of moonflowers (Ipomoea alba) but they look like small eggplants🍆, don't they!? Just three weeks ago, the plant gave pleasure to the eye of passerby with elegantly gorgeous large white flowers (2nd photo) while now surprising them with these small eggplant-like fruits.

The question was of course if they were edible and sadly I found moonflowers toxic in their entirety from flowers, to stems, seeds, and fruits. 

 
When I saw the flowers for the first time, I thought they were some morning glories but didn't know their specific type but an Instagram follower told me they were moonflowers (Ipomoea alba), which made sense to me because the flowers are like the Moon and open at night. I saw them only closed or half open in the morning (5th and 6th photos). 

In Japan, morning glories are broadly classified into the following three types according to the time when they open: asagao, hirugao, and yorugao, meaning "MORNING face (i.e., Ipomoea)," "AFTERNOON face (i.e., Japanese bindweed)," and "NIGHT face (i.e., moonflowers)" respectively.

But that's not it. Japan has a plant called "EVENING face," which is actually the calabash, but because of the resemblance of the flower to morning glories, the calabash is called "EVENING face" and its dried shavings of the fruit are eaten under the name of "kanpyo," which is an ingredient of SUSHI😋!!  

2024/11/23

2024/11/1

Korean Spindle Tree (Euonymus Oxyphyllus) 吊花（ツリバナ）

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Fruits split open here and there and these are fruits of the Korean spindle tree (Euonymus oxyphyllus) showing bright orange arils. As the fruits are there, the flowers must have been there, too in early summer, but I didn't notice them at all but that's understandable. The flowers (which I've seen in another place) are so small, one centimeter in diameter. The plant's Japanese name is "hanging flower." You can easily see why if you look at the flowers (3rd to 5th photos)😊!

Japanese Cheesewood (Pittosporum Tobira) トベラ（扉）

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The fruits of Japanese cheesewood (Pittosporum tobira) in my neighborhood have started to split open to show bright red seeds. I've enjoyed seeing the fruits every winter for the last several years and am still intrigued by their color change from deep green in summer (3rd and 4th photos) to creamy yellow with such glossy red seeds. 

Japanese cheesewood is called "tobira" in Japanese, meaning "door" after an old Japanese ritual of hanging a sprig of tobira on the door with a baked sardine head on February 3 or setsubun, i.e., the date before the beginning of spring on the lunisolar calendar, to expel evil spirits.  

Blue Dawn Flower ノアサガオ（野朝顔）

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Morning glories and autumn leaves. It's an unusual combination, isn't it? But that exists in my neighborhood because these morning glories, specifically blue dawn flowers (Ipomoea indica) produce flowers not only in summer but also in autumn or even in winter. So hardy, aren't they? 

Other differences between usual morning glories and blue dawn flowers include the size of flowers. The latter's diameter is about 10 cm. And as you can easily guess, their hardiness, which means invasiveness, makes them designated as an invasive plant in Japan. Fortunately, however, these blue dawn flowers are in Central Tokyo but in an area where few people come, so they've grown vines nonchalantly, just climbing up a tree (3rd photo)😆!

2024/11/19

Maple Leaves in Autumn 紅葉

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Going to a famous tourist spot to see beautiful autumn leaves is one thing and going for a walk in your neighborhood to look for the small beauty around you another. Autumn leaves in my neighborhood have started changing color from green to yellow and orange, and then to red. My favorite way of enjoying autumn leaves is to see from below against the blue sky, which makes the leaves strikingly beautiful. 

Longstalk Holly (Ilex Pedunculosa) ソヨゴ（戦）

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The red berries and the deep green leaves made me smile. This is longstalk holly (Ilex pedunculosa). Many plants produce red, purple, or black fruits in autumn but the longstalk holly berries are unique, hanging from the tree like cherries🍒. The longstalk holly produces tiny and adorable flowers!

Yeddo Hawthorn (Rhaphiolepis Umbellata) シャリンバイ（車輪梅）

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Are they edible? That's what I thought at first😆. They look like blueberries, don't they? They're Yeddo hawthorn berries (Rhaphiolepis umbellata). I did research and alas found that they're edible but tasteless with little edible part. The good news is they're used for textile dyeing. 

Pampas Lily-of-the-Valley (Salpichroa Origanifolia) ハコベホオズキ（繁縷酸漿）

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These small flowers surprised me at first because I remembered them flowering in only spring but I was mistaken. They're pampas lilies-of-the-valley (Salpichroa origanifolia) and flower from May to October (it's already November though). Pampas lilies-of-the-valley resemble Japanese andromeda and white enkianthus but the leaf shape and the timing of flowering are different. Japanese andromeda flowers from February to April and white enkianthus in April and May.  

White Sasanqua Camellia 白い山茶花

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Double flowered camellia sasanqua are gorgeous while single flowered ones are fragilely elegant. And the deep green leaves, which are also beautiful, make the camellia blooms' beauty stand out even more. 

Bumblebee マルハナバチ（丸花蜂）

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I often mistake horseflies for bees, but I believe this is a bee, maybe a bumblebee!!?? If so, it's my first time to see a bumblebee. The bee is so chubby and so adorable! 

I don't eat sugary things much but when I really want to have sweet stuff, I make French toast myself and put a LOT of honey on it. 

The bumblebee is called "maruhana bachi," meaning "round (or chubby) flower bee." This makes sense, doesn't it?  

Camellia Sasanqua (Sasanqua Camellia) サザンカ（山茶花）

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Is it too early or late, I don't know, but this sasanqua tree has been in full bloom for the last week. It's autumn according to the calendar but sometimes still hot these days in Tokyo and the sasanqua tree has many double-flowered blooms. Is this because of global warming or this sasanqua being an anomaly? 

Pale Grass Blue (Pseudozizeeria Maha) 大和小灰蝶（ヤマトシジミ）

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This is a pale grass blue butterfly (Pseudozizeeria maha) and you can see why it's "pale grass BLUE." The upper side of the male is beautiful pale blue!

The pale grass blue resembles the plains cupid (Luthrodes pandava) very much except for the latter having orange spots on the wings, so I once mistook a plains cupid for a pale grass blue. This time, I checked several times to make sure that this had no orange spot on its wings (3rd photo). It's a pale grass blue butterfly!  

Common Grass Yellow (Eurema Hecabe) キチョウ（黄蝶）

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I'm diurnal as are butterflies, but because I take a morning walk too early, I rarely see butterflies while on a walk. But while heading to a coffee shop nearby at around 10 a.m. the day before yesterday, I saw many butterflies of at least three types flying here and there. One is the pale grass blue, another is the Asian comma (Polygonia c-aureum), and the other is this, i.e., the common grass yellow (Eurema hecabe)!!

The yellow was so bright but almost the same color as the flower on which it was resting, I decided to wait hoping the butterfly to move to another place to photograph not only this beautiful butterfly but also the contrast between this bright yellow and another color, e.g., the deep green leaves, but alas, a few minutes later, it just flied away.  

Asian Comma (Polygonia C-Aureum) キタテハ（黄立羽）

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I'm diurnal and butterflies are, but because I take a morning walk too early, I rarely see butterflies while on a walk. But yesterday, I went to a coffee shop nearby at around 10 a.m. seeing many butterflies of at least three types flying here and there. One is the pale grass blue, another is the common grass yellow and this one, i.e., Asian comma (Polygonia c-aureum)!! The upper side of Asian comma's wings is such bright orange while the underside is brown like dry leaves (which I couldn't see), protecting them from predators. 

Joro Spider (Trichonephila Clavata)? ジョロウグモ（女郎蜘蛛）？

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This is the best shot I could get. It's a female Joro spider, I think. I noticed her spider web first several months ago because it's big, about 50 cm in diameter, and was shining beautifully in sunlight (though I couldn't photograph the beauty with my compact camera) and since then, I've come to see the owner, which is about 4 cm from toe to toe. For me, this spider is a bit scary but gorgeous as well.   

Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus Umbellata) アキグミ（秋茱萸）

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I was tired from work that day but the tiredness just went away when I saw these adorable berries. They're autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata). Thorny olives fruit in spring while autumn leaves fruit in autumn. Again, they're so cute so I could just eat them up (although they're tart and astringent😨)!!