Japanese laurel (Aucuba japonica) is native to, and can be found across, Japan. The plant produces small purplish brown flowers from March to May and oval fruits in autumn, which are green at first and then turn bright red beautifully in mid-December. Most of the leaves are deep green while some are variegated.
The name "Aucuba" is derived from one of its Japanese names "aokiba," meaning "blue leaf" because the leaves and stems are "blue" throughout the year. Blue? You think I mistook "green" for "blue"?
I didn't! In Japan, people use "blue" for "green." For example, they say "blue" traffic lights and "blue" apples, instead of "green" lights and "green" apples. This is because Japan used to have only four colors, white, black, red, and blue, and the then "blue" included green. In "The Man'yoshu," the oldest existing collection of waka or Japanese poetry, compiled sometime after AD 759 during the Nara period (710-784), green leaves were described as "blue" leaves. The color green was differentiated from blue in the 10th century.
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| 2023/12/29 |
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| 2025/11/10 |
