Plants and Flowers in Tokyo & Japanese Culture by Kei Narujima　東京の草花＆つぶやき

Hong Kong Kumquat (Fortunella Hindsii Swingle)　マメキンカン（豆金柑）

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

This is a bonsai tree made from Hong Kong kumquat (Fortunella hindsii Swingle) and a moss ball. I'm Japanese but have never grown a bonsai tree and never thought I would. Someone gave it to me and suddenly the responsibility to grow this bonsai has fallen on me. One of my New Year resolutions will be to keep it from drying out!

Hassaku Orange　ハッサク（八朔）

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I found Chinese quince fruits scattered on the ground, brought two back home and made jam from them ten days ago. My next target now is these hassaku oranges.

The hassaku orange is a Japanese citrus hybrid between pomelo and mandarin, with pomelo-like characteristics (Source: Wikipedia). Marmalade made from hassaku is so tasty, but there's one problem. Peels of hassaku oranges at grocery stores should contain pesticide. I used to wash them by brush or remove a thin outer layer of the peel but as the outer layer is so orange, I want to use the fruit whole without throwing away any of it. So now, you see why and how badly I want these pesticide-free oranges!

The tree grows in a public space and it's not so busy there but I'm pretty sure that neighbors like me want to have some of these, too for the same reason as mine. From today on, I need to be vigilant, going there as often as possible to pick them up as soon as they fall to the ground😆!

Double-Flowered White Camellia Sasanqua (Sasanqua Camellia)　八重咲きの白いサザンカ（山茶花）

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Camellia sasanquas can be seen in many places in Tokyo, but I rarely see trees with so many, so pure white, double flowered sasanquas. I feel I see more sasanqua blooms (whether white or red) this year than usual. This year may be a good year for camellia sasanquas.

2024/12/26

Aloe　アロエ

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I found the buds in November and have been observing them since then and now I know what aloe flowers are like. These are flowers of aloes more specifically candelabra aloe (Aloe arborescens). I didn't know the aloe produces flowers or has two types, i.e., the Aloe arborescens and the Aloe vera. I can tell those in these photos are the former because the flowers are red. The Aloe vera produces yellow flowers.

2024/12/24

False Holly (Osmanthus Heterophyllus)　ヒイラギ（柊）

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These are false holly flowers (Osmanthus heterophyllus). They're so tiny and white, looking innocent. Something else attracted my attention, however. The leaves on the 1st photo are all round unlike the plant's usual leaf shape. Then I learned that false holly trees change their leaf shape from spiky to round as they age and/or from round to spiky in response to hungry animals according to a Japanese tree doctor. Whether either or both are correct, this shows the adaptability of plants.

2024/12/22

Pink Camellia Sasanqua (Sasanqua Camellia)　ピンクの山茶花（サザンカ）

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Camellia, camellia, camellia! It’s my first time to see such big camellia sasanqua trees (4th photo) and my second time to see a camellia sasanqua tree having so many flowers! As you may know, the flowers of the sasanqua camellia and those of the Japanese camellia resemble each other but they're different in several ways, one of which is how a flower dies. A sasanqua flower dies with petals falling off one by one while a Japanese camellia flower falls off in its entirety.

2024/12/20

East Asian Eurya (Eurya Japonica)　姫榊（ヒサカキ）

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These are flowers of East Asian eurya (Eurya japonica). In Japan, the East Asian eurya is used for Shinto rituals. It's understandable that their flower language in Japan is "Respect deities."

2024/3/24

Maple Leaves in Autumn　もみじの紅葉

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Some leaves are still green but that makes the perfect color gradients from green to yellow, orange and red. Autumn leaves are beautiful but more beautiful against the blue sky.

2024/12/14

2024/12/27

Burning Bush (Euonymus Alatus)　ニシキギ（錦木）

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The deep bright red color caught my eye. They're burning bush (Euonymus alatus). As the name suggests, the leaves look really "burning." The burning bush is called "nishiki gi" in Japanese, which means "brocade tree," after such beautiful red color of the leaves like brocade in autumn. The season of autumn leaves in Tokyo is nearing the end with still remaining leaves on a few trees like this.

2024/12/12

Autumn Leaves - Their Way of Turning Red　紅葉してますけどそれが何か？

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I was doing jump rope and squats in a small park nearby this morning as usual, turned around, saw this, and murmured, "What the hell?," and then burst out laughing! Autumn leaves usually make me say "Wow" with their magnificent color gradients, but this vine of leaves caught my eye with not the bright red color but their way of being! Every leaf has their own way of turning red.

Chrysanthemum　キク（菊）

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I found these chrysanthemums at a bus stop. There were only two but their bright contrast between the red ray florets and the yellow disk florets caught my eye.

Chrysanthemums are special in Japan. The Imperial Seal of Japan is called the Chrysanthemum Seal and used by the Emperor of Japan and members of the Imperial Family. But for me, the flowers are special in a different way, i.e., always reminding me of "The Inugami Clan," a murder mystery book by Seishi Yokomizo (1902-1981), one of the most famous crime authors in Japan who created the private detective character Kosuke Kindaichi.

You may wonder how chrysanthemums, such beautiful flowers, are related to a crime novel. That's because they play a key role in "The Inugami Clan" as one of the three sacred treasures for the clan, i.e., a golden chrysanthemum, a golden axe, and a golden koto or Japanese harp made by Sahee Inugami, the super-rich head of the family. These golden treasures were proof of heirship, and you can easily guess, the family members are killed one after another over this heirship and the head of a victim is replaced with the head of a chrysanthemum doll... AHHH😱

I read almost all the books by Seishi Yokomizo when I was a kid. (I was a bit different from other kids.) Yokomizo respected Ellery Queen and Agatha Christie, but liked John Dickson Carr the most. If you like reading crime books, you can guess what Yokomizo's stories are like.

Chrysanthemums are pretty, colorful flowers, having nothing to do with bloody murders. Maybe it's time for me to change this terrible perception of chrysanthemums.

Heart-Shaped Yellow Leaves　ハート形の黄葉

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One or two may not have caught my eye but that many hearts did and made me smile.

Plants and Flowers in Tokyo & Japanese Culture by Kei Narujima　東京の草花＆つぶやき - なるじまけい