A Bee with Pollen Baskets🐝 花粉荷を運ぶハチ🐝

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

They are honey bees with pollen baskets. Pollen baskets are part of the tibia on the hind legs of some female bees. They pack pollen into these baskets to carry it back to their nest or hive. The bee in the last photo was covered in pollen and vibrating its body on a leaf. 

2023/7/5

Female Sponge Gourd Flower (Luffa Aegyptiaca) ヘチマの雌花

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

I wrote about sponge gourds in early July, but the focus at that time was the fruits. The flower in the 1st photo is female. I can tell that because the flower center is not yellow but yellow green. The garden has many flowers (2nd photo), but I was able to find only one female flower. 

Female sponge gourd flower　ヘチマの雌

Pumpkin Beetles Like Gourds, Too! 黒瓜葉虫はヘチマもお好き！

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

At the beginning of this month, I wrote about pumpkin beetles (Aulacophora nigripennis) on flowers of Trichosanthes kirilowii (Chinese cucumber) and today, I found the beetles on sponge gourd flowers. These pumpkin beetles are known to be harmful to gourds and cucumbers, but not that so compared to red pumpkin beetles (i.e., Aulacophora femoralis).

A pumpkin beetle on a sponge gourd flower　ヘチマの花の上の黒瓜葉虫

Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa) 熊蜂（クマバチ）

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

This is a carpenter bee (Xylocopa) having breakfast on sponge gourd flowers. I've been seeing the bee for the last couple of months and wanting to photograph them but they move from one flower to another so quickly that they flee before the camera focuses on them, so I decided to take @zaungruen method, i.e., focusing the camera on a flower and waiting for the subject to come and it worked😀!!!  

Carpenter bees are large, i.e., 2 to 3 cm, flying so quickly, so I assumed that they're aggressive but they're relatively gentle. I love the giant bees😄

Carpenter  bee　熊蜂

Carpenter bee　クマバチ

Sponge and Bitter Gourds ヘチマとゴーヤ

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

There is a proverb in Japan which goes "When the wind blows, barrel makers get rich." This means that when something happens, it may cause unexpected effects. And that has happened to me this morning! I got these sponge and bitter gourds because I walk and jump rope every day!! (To see the salad I made using the bitter gourds, read this post🥗!)

This morning I saw the gardener of the park in which these gourds grew. Our conversation was like this: ("M" means me and "G" means the gardener.)

M: Good morning! 

G: It's you who walk very quickly and jump rope every morning, isn't it? 

M: Yes! 

G: Do you eat bitter gourds? 

M: I love bitter gourds😀!

G: Okay, I'll give you bitter gourds as a treat!! 

M: Thank you, but I love sponge gourds, too😆!! 

G: Okay, okay.

Sadly, these days, people take bitter gourds without asking, so he apologized to me for being able to give me only small bitter gourds, but that doesn't matter. I'm very happy. If you're interested in how barrel makers get rich when the wind blows, read below. It's nonsense! (Source: Wikimedia Commons): 

1. When the wind blows, dust will be blown into people's eyes. 
2. If dust is blown into people's eyes, some people will go blind. 
3. The traditional employment for blind people in Japan was itinerant shamisen-playing story-tellers. 
4. The blind people would therefore be predicted to purchase shamisen. 
5. The skin of the shamisen is often made of cats. So if blind people increase, then cats will be killed for their skin. 
6. If cats are killed then there will be more mice. 
7. And if there are more mice, people will need to make sure that their rice is kept in barrels. 
8. So they will order barrels. 
9. Barrel makers will get rich.

Sponge and bitter gourds　ヘチマとゴーヤ 

Sponge Gourd (Luffa Aegyptiaca) ヘチマ

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

I wish I had them to stir fry them to make a tasty Okinawan cuisine! These are sponge gourds (Luffa aegyptiaca) in a park. Sponge gourds aren't available in any supermarkets in my neighborhood, so I've been wishing the gardener would give me some of them for a couple of weeks and this isn't a silly idea because in October 2020 the gardener gave me several bitter gourds!!

At that time, bitter gourds were planted there and the gardener was looking for someone he was able to give them because although he'd asked many if they ate the gourds, most answered no, i.e., some didn't like the gourds (as they are bitter) and others didn't know how to cook them. I've been praying😆.  

A sponge gourd flower (Luffa aegyptiaca)　ヘチマの花

 

A sponge gourd (Luffa Aegyptiaca)　ヘチマ

Luffa Aegyptiaca (Sponge Gourd) 糸瓜（ヘチマ）

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

This is a fruit of Luffa Aegyptiaca or more commonly a sponge gourd. I walk by this almost every day but didn't notice it until today (how silly of me!). It's time to harvest and I saw a gardener watering the flowers nearby. So, I tried to have a chat with him to ask the fate of this gourd, but he was concentrating on watering. (If you're interested in why I had to be worried about the gourd's fate, read this post.)

Bitter gourds, as one of the summer vegetables, are very popular and eaten a lot across Japan but sponge gourds are known rather as a material of toner or scrubbing brushes. I've eaten sponge gourds only once or twice. Tomorrow, I will ask him if I can get it😄😊!!

Luffa aegyptiaca 糸瓜

A Horsefly on a Luffa Aegyptiaca (Sponge Gourd) Flower 糸瓜（ヘチマ）の花にアブ

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

So beautiful! I've seen this many times, but this beautiful color contrast still attracts me. This is a horsefly on a flower of Luffa aegyptiaca or more commonly known as the sponge gourd. It produced a few fruits, but they couldn't grow big and died (last photo)....

A horsefly on a Luffa aegyptiaca flower 糸瓜の花にアブ

Luffa Aegyptiaca (Sponge Gourd) 糸瓜（ヘチマ）

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

I felt like a family member of a prisoner on death row, so when I found them still alive, I was relieved!

 
These are a baby and young sponge gourds. I was so excited to see them because I found not one or two but three gourds and relieved because I was able to see again the gourd (4th, 5th and 6th photos), which I didn't expect to be alive due to the garden's policy "Pick fruit before growing." But why have these gourds survived under that policy? The likely answer is that the garden owner thinks people in Tokyo don't know sponge gourds are edible, so isn't worried that the gourds will be stolen! (For the details of the garden's policy, read this post!) 

Unlike bitter gourds, one of the most popular summer vegetables in Japan, sponge gourds are not eaten that much in mainland Japan and are known rather as a material of toner or scrubbing brushes. If this guess is correct, I may be able to see them growing big😄😊!!! I'm so happy now with a bit of worry that the guess may be wrong.     

9/10 A baby fruit of Luffa aegyptiaca 糸瓜の赤ちゃん

9/12

9/10 A baby sponge gourd ヘチマの赤ちゃん

 

9/10 With a beautiful sponge gourd flower ヘチマの花とともに

Luffa Aegyptiaca (Sponge Gourd) 糸瓜（ヘチマ）

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

This is a young sponge gourd. I was so excited to find this that I said wow😲😄! I see sponge gourd flowers almost everyday but didn't expect to see the fruit because I saw the gardener pick every female flower and fruit of bitter gourd growing next to the sponge gourd under the garden's new rule "Pick fruit before growing and being stolen." But this baby (or teenage?) sponge gourd has been able to survive so far hidden under the leaves. I took many photos of this adorable gourd as I knew it would be gone soon as other gourds were😭.  

Luffa aegyptiaca 糸瓜

 

A flower and fruit of sponge gourd ヘチマの花と実

Luffa Aegyptiaca (Sponge Gourd) 糸瓜（ヘチマ）

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

This is a male flower of Luffa aegyptiaca or more commonly known as the sponge gourd. It wasn't there until two days ago and appeared out of the blue yesterday, surrounded by deep purple morning glories and bright yellow male bitter gourd flowers. 

The area was part of a public garden in my neighborhood and originally for bitter gourds. But the gourds no longer seem to be allowed to grow. Several days ago, I saw a gardener picking female bitter gourd flowers and baby gourds. Obviously, the park has no intention of growing bitter gourds but instead morning glories or other gourds (like this sponge gourd)...😂

The sponge gourd is monoecious the same as the bitter gourd, meaning that it has male and female flowers on the same plant. My next goal is to observe it until it produces a fruit!

Sponge gourd ヘチマ

Luffa aegyptiaca 糸瓜

Aulacophora Nigripennis on Bottle Gourd クロウリハムシとヘチマ

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

I've been observing trees which I believe are bottle gourd for the last month to obtain evidence that they are really bottle gourd, not other gourds, such as cucumber, pumpkin or zucchini, and a few days ago, at last, I've got evidence, i.e., two bottle gourds hanging from one of the trees! And I also found this tiny but beautiful black and orange bug, Aulacophora nigripennis.

Aulacophora nigripennis on bottle gourd bud
ヘチマのつぼみとクロウリハムシ

One of the bottle gourds I found 見つけたヘチマの一つ

The other one 二本目

Bottle gourd flower へちまの花

I can't explain why but wanted badly evidence that they were really bottle gourd, but couldn't get any proof for more than a month, just finding yellow flowers, but it was worth to wait!! The 1cm bug holding on to the yellow bud was so kawaii!! 😊

(If you wish to post your comment but don't have a Google account, select "anonymous" from the drop down menu titled "comment as"!)

ウリ科の花は似ています。だからこの花もへちまと信じつつ、証拠をずっと探してました（つまり実がなるのを待ってました）。そして昨日やっと２本のヘチマを発見。しかもちっちゃい虫も！

クロウリハムシというそうです。害虫だそうですがしがみついている姿がカワイイ😊です。

(Google アカウントを持ってない方は、コメント記入後に「Google アカウント」をクリックし、「匿名」か「名前/URL」を選択してからご記入ください！)

Sponge Gourd ヘチマ

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

This is a sponge gourd flower. The contrast between yellow and deep green is so beautiful!

The leaf is so green and large! 葉っぱ大きい！

   

Season of sponge gourd flowers へちまの花の季節

The color deep green is relaxing 深い緑に落ち着きました

As I wrote in "Gourds in Various Forms - Netsuke, Pickle....," Japan has various gourds and they are called different names without including the term "うり (uri) or gourd," which makes it difficult to see that they are all in the gourd family. The sponge gourd is not the exception, called "hechima" and has an interesting history on how it started to be called as such.

A sponge gourd was originally called (according to Wikipedia) "いとうり or "ito uri," meaning "thread gourd" and then changed as follows:

いとうり　"ito uri" 
→とうり　"to uri" 
→へちま　"hechima"

First, "i" of "ito uri" disappeared, resulting in only "to" remaining with "uri," which means gourd.

The letter "to" is between "he (へ)" and "chi (ち)" in the old Japanese alphabet, i.e., いろは, as below.

い　ろ　は　に　ほ　へ　と　ち　り　ぬ　る　を........

 i      ro     ha    ni     ho   he    to    chi    ri     nu    ru    wo.......

And between is in Japanese "ma" or "ま." So, all in all: 

"To" gourd is between "he" and "chi."

 と    うり   =　ま(ma)   へ           ち　　→　へちま（hechima）Got it?😉

Sponge gourds have male and female flowers, but I haven't been able to find female flowers yet..... 

(If you wish to post your comment but don't have a Google account, select "anonymous" from the drop down menu titled "comment as"!)

近所のへちまです。黄色と緑のコントラストが鮮やかです！

「ひさごの根付、奈良漬け、炒め物」でも書きましたが、英語で「xxxx gourd」で済むものが、日本語だと、ひさご、瓢箪、ゴーヤ、苦瓜、へちま等、いろいろあるから大変、かつ、ウリ科であることが分かりにくい！でもおいしいから許します🥰

へちまの名は、いとうりが後に縮まって「とうり（と瓜）」と転訛し、「と」はいろは歌で「へ」と「ち」の間にあることから「へち間」の意で「へちま」と呼ばれるようになったそうです。（出典：Wikipedia）

ちなみに雄の花しかありませんでした。最近一生懸命雌の花を探しております｡｡｡

(Google アカウントを持ってない方は、コメント記入後に「Google アカウント」をクリックし、「匿名」か「名前/URL」を選択してからご記入ください！)