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

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

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

2024/12/22

2024/12/22

Osmanthus Heterophyllus (Holly Olive) at Former Yasuda Garden 旧安田庭園の柊（ヒイラギ）

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

These are the flowers of osmanthus heterophyllus or more commonly known as holly olive at former Yasuda Garden in Tokyo. I saw holly olive trees with spiny bright green leaves at the garden of the Parliamentary Museum two weeks ago, but they had no flowers. 

The Yasuda Garden is believed to have been built from 1688 to 1703 by Munesuke Honjo, an uncle of the fifth Tokugawa Shogun Tsunayoshi, then bought in 1900 by Zenjiro Yasuda or the founder of the Yasuda zaibatsu, one of the four major business conglomerates of Imperial Japan owned and managed by the Yasuda clan. All the Japanese conglomerates were dissolved at the end of World War II, but they have survived through to the present day nominally or otherwise. The three megabanks in Japan, i.e., MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and Mizuho Bank, have their roots in zaibatsu conglomerates, that is, Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Sumitomo, and Yasuda, respectively.

Osmanthus heterophyllus 柊

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

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

The bright green spiny leaves caught my eye. These are the leaves of osmanthus heterophyllus or more commonly known as holly olive and false holly at the Parliamentary Museum. At least two pentatomidae or more commonly stink bugs were bathing in the sun on the leaves.

Holly olive is a shrub known in Japan to expel evil spirits. People in some areas, e.g., Kyoto, hang the head of a sardine impaled on a holly olive twig on the front door on the setsubun day, i.e., the day before the beginning of spring in the old calendar in Japan, generally on around February 3. 

When I went to the museum on October 30, the shrub had no flowers, but the holly olive is in the osmanthus genus, so the flowers are fragrant. I need to go there again to smell them!!   

The Parliamentary Museum is in Central Tokyo, close to the Imperial Palace and the National Diet Building, and among other things free admission. Definitely, one of the must places to drop by if/when you come to Japan. 

Osmanthus heterophyllus leaves are spiny 柊の葉は尖ってる

A stink bug on a holly olive leaf 柊の葉の上のカメムシ