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

Red, White, and Yellow Spider Lily (Lycoris)　ヒガンバナ（曼珠沙華/彼岸花）

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Spider lilies are native to China but can be found across Japan. They flower in September and therefore are called "Autumnal equinox flower" in Japanese. Spider lilies are known generally as red flowers (Lycoris radiata) but they produce white (Lycoris albiflora) and yellow (Lycoris traubii) flowers. A white spider lily is not a sibling of a red one, but a cross-breed of a red and a yellow spider lilies. It's interesting that a child of red and yellow flowers is white.

A yellow spider lily is called "Shouki zuisen" in Japanese, translating to "Zhong Kui lily" as its petals look like the beard of Zhong Kui, a demon hunter and Chinese deity who fights ghosts.

Despite their beauty, 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.

2025/9/26

Early Amethyst (Callicarpa Dichotoma)　コムラサキ（小紫）

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Early amethyst (Callicarpa dichotoma) is native to Asia and can be found across Japan. It produces tiny pale pink flowers in clusters from July to August and tiny drupes also in clusters from September to November. The fruits are green at first and then turn purple. (Scroll down!!) Its Japanese name is "komurasaki," which translates to "small East Asian beautyberry" because the two resemble each other but the former (i.e., early amethyst) is smaller than the latter.

Their Japanese names both contain "muraski," which means purple and Murasaki Shikibu or Lady Purple. Lady Purple is a Japanese novelist, poet and court lady at the Imperial court in the Heian period (794 - 118), known as the author of The Tale of Genji, which is often said to be the world's oldest long novel.

2025/6/20

Auaxa Sulphurea　キエダシャク（黄枝尺）

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The summer is finally over this year and signs of autumn are here in Tokyo, one of which is the return of butterflies and moths. This is Auaxa sulphurea, one type of geometer moth. If it hadn't moved, I would have thought it was a leaf.

Auaxa sulphurea is seen across Japan and also Taiwan and can be easily identified by the horizontal brown red line. The caterpillars feed on plants usually in the rose family, known to mimic a rose twig.

2025/9/23

Meadowhawks (Sympetrum)　赤とんぼ

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I've taken photos of blue dragonflies, such as blue-tailed forest hawks and white-tailed skimmers, several times but red ones for the first time (though I saw them many times in my childhood). I believe this is a meadowhawks (Sympetrum) but there are many types of meadowhawks and I don't know which one.

In Japan, there is a very famous song for children titled "Red dragonfly." I don't listen to children's songs almost at all but this red dragonfly made me feel a bit nostalgic.

2025/9/22

Star Magnolia (Magnolia Stellata)　シデコブシ（四手辛夷）

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The star magnolia (Magnolia stellata) is native to Japan, flowering in early spring. Its flowers resemble white magnolia (Yulan magnolia) very much, but there are several differences. Star magnolia flowers are star-shaped and a little smaller than white magnolia. The way of flowering is also different, i.e., star magnolia flowers fully open while white magnolias only half open even when in full bloom.

On 13 September 2025, I found something interesting. A star magnolia tree had several fruits beside another tree with many buds, one of which was half open (4th photo). This is, however, not unusual (at least in Japan). Magnolias are known to flower outside the flowering season due to unusual weather or other reason. This magnolia tree may have produced buds and flowers in September because of the extremely hot summer this year.

2024/3/19

Cabbage White Butterfly　モンシロチョウ（紋白蝶）

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I thought it was a common grass yellow butterfly at first but it's not so yellow and its spots, which should be black, are paler or nearly pale gray, which made me conclude it's a male cabbage white butterfly.

Although its English name and Japanese name (which translates to "spot white butterfly") both include the term "white," the male cabbage white butterflies are yellowish. Also, according to Kubota Corporation's website (in Japanese only), they can tell the male from the female by the wing color because they can see ultraviolet light. The female's wing, which reflects ultraviolet light, looks brighter than the male's wing, which absorbs the light.

2025/9/7

Blue-Striped Nettle Grub (Parasa Lepida)　ヒロヘリアオイラガ（広縁青毒棘蛾）

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What do you see in these photos? I thought it was a strange-shaped grasshopper but you know what? It's a moth! A blue-striped nettle grub (Parasa lepida). I found this on the backside of a leaf of a "drunken" Confederate rose tree. It is a native minor pest found in the Indo-Malayan region, including India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia according to Wikipedia and as an introduced pest, it's currently found across Japan now. The adult (this one) is colorful and cute but its larvae have spines that contain venom.

2025/8/14

Pagoda Tree (Styphnolobium Japonicum)　エンジュ（槐）

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Cream yellow flowers scattered on the ground made me look up and find a Japanese pagoda tree (Styphnolobium japonicum).

Japanese pagoda trees are native to China, coming to Japan at the latest in the 8th century, and now can be found across Japan in parks and schools. As you can see in the 4th photo, the Japanese pagoda tree is in the Fabaceae family.

2025/8/16

"Drunken" Confederate Rose　スイフヨウ（酔芙蓉）

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These are Confederate roses (Hibiscus mutabilis cv. versicolor) and the first five photos are of one flower, taken at 10:00, 12:30, 15:30 and 16:30, and at 5:30 on the following morning. Because of such a color change from pure white in the morning to pink in the afternoon, this type of Confederate roses is called "drunken Confederate rose" in Japan.

The sixth and the last ones are red and white marbled. Some Japanese apricot trees produce such colored flowers but (I believe that) a Confederate rose tree producing such flowers is quite unusual. White apricot trees don't exist but red ones produce white or red/white marbled flowers when they cannot produce enough anthocyanins to make flowers red. The same may apply to this hibiscus tree.

If you want to see peach, Japanese apricot, or lespedeza having white, pink/red or marble-colored flowers on a tree, read the following posts:

- Red & White Marble Colored Flowering Peach

- Half & Half Colored Japanese Apricot (White & Pink)!

- Lespedeza Japonica Bailey cv. Versicolor (Variegated Bush Clover)

1. 10:00, 2024/9/16

2. 12:30, 2024/9/16

3. 15:30, 2024/9/16

Okra (Abelmoschus Esculentus)　オクラ

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I've eaten its fruits numerous times but saw the flowers for the first time. These are okra flowers. Okra flowers resemble Hamabo hibiscuses very much but that's understandable. Both are in the Malvaceae family.

The okra is native to East Africa, coming to Japan at the end of the Edo period (1603 - 1867), and is now used for various dishes, such as salad, tempura, (miso) soup, stew, and saute.

2025/8/15

Three Types of Swallowtail Butterflies　アゲハ蝶3種

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There are various types of swallowtail butterflies and these are three of them. Butterflies usually close their wings when resting but are also known to open their wings to bask in the sun to warm their bodies. The first one was like this when being photographed and at that time the temperature was 26°C. Did this butterfly need to warm its body? I don't know.

2025/8/8

White-Tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum Albistylum)　シオカラトンボ（塩辛蜻蛉）

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These are white-tailed skimmers (Orthetrum albistylum). The dragonfly is found across Asia and Russia. Males and females can be distinguished by color. Males are bluish while females are yellowish. The thing is young males are also yellowish, which makes it difficult to distinguish young males from females.

The white-tailed skimmer dragonfly is called "shiokara tombo" in Japanese, which translates to "salty dragonfly" because of a white powdery substance developed on its' abdomen.

2025/8/2 Female

2022/8/13 Male

Crepe Myrtle (Lagerstroemia Indica)　サルスベリ（百日紅）

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Crepe myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) is native to China, coming to Japan before the Edo period (1603 - 1867) and can be found across Japan now. The tree produces flowers in various colors, white, pink, and red. Its leaves turn orange and red beautifully in autumn and the dark brown fruits are also beautiful.

The crepe myrtle has two names in Japan, "saru suberi," which translates to "monkeys slip" because of its slippery bark, on which even monkeys (are said to) slip, and "hyaku jitsu ko," which translates to "red for one hundred days," after that the crepe myrtle flowers bloom for a long period of time.

According to Flower Meanings, the crepe myrtle flower means;
- Prosperity;
- Good luck;
- Chastity;
- Good luck in love and marriage; and
- Marital fidelity.

But here in Japan, it means:

- Eloquence;
- Charm and;
- Carelessness.

2022/8/1

2020/7/5

2021/7/24

Five-Seeded Plume-Poppy (Macleaya Cordata)　タケニグサ（竹似草）

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This is five-seeded plume-poppy (Macleaya cordata). The plant is native to China, Taiwan, and Japan and can be found across Japan. Its Japanese name is "takeni gusa," which translates into "plant similar to bamboo," after it having hollow stems like bamboos.

The plant shows its beauty in various ways. Spindle shaped white things (like the one in the center of the 1st photo) are buds. Things that look like sparkers are flowers, which contain beautiful thread shaped white stamens and orange pistils. Its brown capsules (4th photo) are also beautiful.

2025/7/13
Thread shaped white things are stamens and orange things behind them are pistils.
白い糸状のものが雄蕊でオレンジが雌蕊

2021/6/16 - Pistils (ovaries)　雌蕊（子房）

2025/7/13

2025/7/13 - Capsules　蒴果

Popcorn Hydrangea (Hydrangea Macrophylla Ayesha)　ウズアジサイ（渦紫陽花）

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They're one of my favorite hydrangeas, popcorn hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla Ayesha). Needless to say, the hydrangea is named after the shape of its sepals, which resembles that of popcorns.

2025/7/11

2024/6/4

Camellia Fruits (Camellia Japonica and Camellia Sasanqua)　椿と山茶花の実

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Camellia trees in my neighborhood have started fruit and one of the differences between the Camellia japonica and the Camellia sasanqua is the fruit.

Japanese people love Camellia so much that they talk a lot about how to distinguish between "japonica" and "sasanqua." One way to tell is to look at the size and skin of their fruits. Also, a Camellia japonica fruit is bigger (i.e., about 5 cm in diameter) with a glossy skin while a Camellia sasanqua one is about 3 cm and hairy.

The seeds of both Camellia fruits can produce oil (i.e., tea seed oil), which has been used for skin and hair in Japan for a long time. How long? The Shoku Nihongi, i.e., an imperially-commissioned Japanese history text, says that Japan gave the oil to an ambassador sent from Balhae, a multi-ethnic kingdom in Manchuria, the Korean Peninsula and the Russian Far East, in 777. Wow!

Camellia japonica and sasanqua are both the prefectural/city/town flower of many prefectures and municipalities in Japan, and the Camellia japonica is surprisingly the Alabama state flower.

If you're interested in another (easy!) way to tell the Camellia japonica from the Camellia sasanqua, read THIS post, too!!

2025/7/10 Camellia japonica

2021/8/5 Camellia JAPONICA, no hair, 5 cm in diameter
椿の実はツルツルで直径5センチ

Tall Stewartia (Stewartia Monadelpha)　ヒメシャラ（姫沙羅）

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Tall stewartia (Stewartia monadelpha) is native to Japan and can be found in the Kanagawa prefecture (next to Tokyo) and the southern areas. The plant is in the Theaceae family, the same as Japanese camellia. You can see the resemblance of the flowers to camellias. Tall stewartia produces flowers from May to August and fruits generally from October to November but a tree in my neighborhood fruited in August last year and has started to fruit since July this year. And that's not the end. After turning brown, the fruits crack, which look like a crow screaming! (Scroll down! That's funny.)

2025/5/31

2025/7/10

Virginia Pepperweed (Lepidium Virginicum) 　マメグンバイナズナ（豆軍配薺）

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Virginia pepperweed or least pepperwort (Lepidium virginicum) is native to North America and its existence was first confirmed in Japan in the Meiji era (1868 - 1912). Virginia pepperweed resembles shepherd's purses (Capsella bursa-pastoris) very much, but while the fruits of shepherd's purse are triangle shaped, Virginia pepperweed's fruit shape is rounder, resembling that of small "gunbai," a type of Japanese war fan. Gunbai were once held by samurai leaders and priests but now used by (only) umpires in sumo wrestling. The gunbai shape is that of the fruits in the 1st photo.

2025/7/9

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

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A pale grass blue butterfly (Pseudozizeeria maha) is plain at a glance (3rd photo) but you would be surprised when seeing the upper side of a male one, which is beautiful pale blue as its name suggests. Butterflies are known to open their wings to bask in the sun to warm their bodies, so you're more likely to see the beautiful blue in autumn than summer.

The pale grass blue resembles the plains cupid (Luthrodes pandava) very much except for the latter having orange spots on the wings. I once mistook a plains cupid for a pale grass blue.

2024/11/5

2022/11/9

2025/6/29

Johnson Grass (Sorghum Halepense)　セイバンモロコシ（西播蜀黍）

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Johnson grass or Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense) is native to Asia and northern Africa, coming to, or (as an invasive species) invading, Japan in around 1945. Now, the weed can be found across Japan but Hokkaido, i.e., the northernmost part of Japan. I looked up the origin of the name, finding that the plant was named after an Alabama plantation owner, Colonel William Johnson, who introduced the plant to his farm in around 1840 as a prospective forage. Johnsongrass, however, has been found to become poisonous under stress (e.g., frost) and be toxic to livestock.

Despite such hardiness and toxicity, however, Johnsongrass produces tiny and cute flowers.

2026/6/29

2025/6/26

Skunkvine (Paederia Foetida)　屁糞葛（ヘクソカズラ）

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Skunkvine (Paederia foetida) is native to Asia and can be found across Japan. The perception of the plant in Japan is it's smelly (as in other countries), so its Japanese name is "hé kuso kazura," which translates to "fart shxx vine." The plant is also so hardy that it was sung in a waka poem by an Imperial Court official in the Nara period (710-794), who wished to work hardily like the plant, and the poem is included in The Manyōshū, i.e., the oldest extant collection of Japanese waka poetry compiled during that period.

Despite such a terrible name and the smell, however, the flower's glossy red center always reminds me of jam thumbprint cookies.

2025/7/4

2025/6/29

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