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

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

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）

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

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

2025/5/31

2025/5/31

2025/7/10

2025/7/10

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

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

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

2025/7/9

Blue-Tailed Forest Hawk (Orthetrum Triangulare Melania) オオシオカラトンボ（大塩辛蜻蛉）

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

This is a blue-tailed forest hawk (Orthetrum triangulare melania). The dragonfly can be found across Japan from June to September. Its blue gray body is so beautiful that I wanted to photograph it from above and side, but couldn't. That's a big difference from photographing plants, which don't move unless it's windy so you can come back the following day but which also makes the moment more memorable. 

Like blue skimmers, female blue-tailed forest hawks are not blue but yellow.

2025/7/1