Hello. This is Murakami, in charge of checking.
In this section, we will introduce some familiar plants that you may come across while taking a walk.
Before that, let me briefly introduce myself.
My grandfather was a science teacher and had a particular knowledge of plants. As is common in the countryside, our garden had flower beds and a field, so we were in contact with plants on a daily basis, and naturally I became interested in them.
After I left my parents' home, I gradually forgot about those things, but I still felt like I was somehow reluctant to leave them behind.
The turning point came in 2017 when I went on training at TOEC Nature School in Tokushima Prefecture.
TOEC is a place where children and staff can discuss what they want to do now and design a day together through free camps. Playing outside and listening to the talks there rekindled my interest in living things that I had long forgotten.
Since then, I've started going to parks and mountains to look for living creatures. Before, I was reluctant to go out on my days off and tended to stay at home, but now I enjoy it.
Maybe you are trying to regain some forgotten childhood memories.
This year, as we are refraining from traveling, it is also an opportunity to turn our attention to places close to home.
For example, a small park in your neighborhood or the path you walk on your way to work are good places to observe.
Although it is called an "illustrated book," I have only just begun my training. It is not an academic book, but I would like to introduce familiar plants from my own perspective.
This time, I've chosen some plants that I'm personally familiar with, which I see around my home and my Yoyogi office.
If you are interested, please observe and research it for yourself.
*When observing, please be careful not to damage surrounding plants or look into people's houses.
Screwbana (Mojizuri)
~Unique and familiar orchids~
This orchid plant produces small, spiral-shaped pink flowers.
They can be seen in parks and on the roadside.
The leaves are inconspicuous close to the ground, but the flower stalks can grow rapidly and can sometimes reach over 30 centimeters.
There are also individual differences, with some flowers twisting to the right, some to the left, and some not twisting at all...I think this rich individuality is one of the charms of this flower.
There seem to be some enthusiasts, and I sometimes see them growing in pots. I too am drawn to the beautiful flowers and the distinctive way they bloom.
Furthermore, the roots of the screw pine form a symbiotic relationship with fungi in the soil, and in exchange for providing the fungi with nutrients produced through photosynthesis, the fungi provide it with nutrients from the soil. I have only heard about this before, but even a little research gives you a glimpse into the complexity of the ecosystem.
It's fun to imagine the microscopic world underground.
Ardisia crenata (Ardisia crenata)
~ A cafe for insects? ~
It is a climbing plant that blooms in early summer.
The flowers may look plain at first glance, but that is what makes them so distinctive.
Many small flowers bloom together, and from a distance the yellow-green buds and the orange color of the blooms look like pixel art, which is interesting.
You may also see butterflies and bees sucking nectar. When they are busy with nectar it is easy to get close, so this is a good spot for observing and photographing insects.
* Be careful not to touch the bees as you may be stung.
It is a member of the Vitaceae family, but I have no recollection of seeing it bear fruit.
Apparently there are some plants that do not bear fruit, but perhaps they have been mistaken for wild grapes or people have not noticed them even though they are in their field of vision.
The leaves are divided into five small lobes, so it should be easy to identify even when the plant is not in bloom.
As it grows it will entwine around surrounding plants and other things, which may make it look unsightly.
However, in early spring, it is striking to see reddish buds appear from the ground, which is still covered with dead leaves and has little green color.
I feel that red buds have a strong image of sprouting, and when I see them I feel, "Ah, it's the season of budding again this year," and they have become something of a seasonal feature for me.
Morning glory family
The pale pink flowers are beautiful
This is a plant of the Convolvulaceae family that is often seen in flowerbeds around town.
Morning glory is a familiar summer flower from the same family as morning glory, but although it is often seen as a nuisance weed, morning glory also blooms beautifully.
I think the one in the photo is either morning glory or small morning glory, but it's difficult (for me at least) to tell the difference based on size, so I'd look at other characteristics if I wanted to know more.
One example is the area circled in red in the enlarged photo - I think this is probably a morning glory, as I can see folds in the flower stalk. In the case of morning glory, there are no folds here, and it is round.
The leaves of both morning glory and morning glory (although there are some differences) are long and thin, with the bases sticking out to the left and right, giving them a silhouette similar to that of a sea angel. It seems that you can tell whether they are morning glory or not just by looking at the leaves.
There are several climbing plants that can be seen in the city, and they are difficult to distinguish unless they are in bloom. I think it would be even more interesting to observe them if you could roughly tell what they are from the shape of their leaves, like the aforementioned Ardisia crenata and this morning glory.
American pokeweed (American pokeweed)
～It's not grapes, it's burdock～
It has thick red stems and large leaves. It is a plant that grows rapidly and can reach over 2m in summer.
In autumn it produces black berries.
It's quite eye-catching, so many people have probably seen it even if they don't know the name.
The name "Youshu" is written in kanji as "Western species," and it is not a species that was originally native to Japan, but is one of the naturalized plants.
I often see them in Kumamoto, where I'm from.
My mother told me that when she was little she would eat the fruit while playing and her mouth would turn bright red, so it must have already been a common habit several decades ago.
*Caution! This plant is poisonous. Do not eat it!
At first glance, the fruit looks like a bunch of grapes, so when I was young I wondered why it was called "burdock" and not "grapes," but it turns out it is a plant of the Phytolacca family.
I had never actually seen the roots before, so I decided to pull out some American pokeweed that was growing behind my office.
The larger one broke off midway, but the smaller one came out almost completely.
Although it is a little bent, it has a single thick root that makes it look similar to burdock.
*Even though they look similar, they are inedible!
Although we have only covered a few here, you can actually see a surprising number of flowers and plants in the city, especially in parks and other green spaces.
Why not try walking slower than usual and focusing on the creatures around you?
Bonus: Murakami uprooting American pokeweed in the office (photo by Saito).
References:
Hideaki Iwatsuki, "Illustrated Guide to Flowers and Plants for Walks to Teach Your Children" (Visual Daiwa Bunko, 2017)
Takahiko Yamada, "Enjoy Nature Walks! A Guide to Flowers and Weeds" (Ikeda Shoten, 2020)
MURAKAMI Isao