I live just next to a 50-hectare park named "(Chiba prefectural ) Hokuso Hanano-oka Koen"... a long name. Southern limit of the park borders a stretch of farming area with rice paddies. Two together, the park and the farming land, they must have constituted a typical "satoyama" not long time ago.
To understand what "satoyama" is, refer to the following site:
http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/amabiki/e/6th/6satoyama.htm
When my wife and I happened to pass this place riding bicycles, we found its environment and landscape so charming that we moved here just a year ago. Since then we have enjoyed walking, jogging, and pottering around the area.
In the past week or so, I have observed two species of trees putting out beautiful white blossoms. Let me introduce them.
One is "kobushi", magnolia kobus, vernacular English name "kobushi magnolia".
The other is "hakumokuren", magnolia heptapeta, English name "mulan magnolia / tulip magnolia / lily magnolia".
To understand what "satoyama" is, refer to the following site:
http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/amabiki/e/6th/6satoyama.htm
When my wife and I happened to pass this place riding bicycles, we found its environment and landscape so charming that we moved here just a year ago. Since then we have enjoyed walking, jogging, and pottering around the area.
In the past week or so, I have observed two species of trees putting out beautiful white blossoms. Let me introduce them.
One is "kobushi", magnolia kobus, vernacular English name "kobushi magnolia".
The other is "hakumokuren", magnolia heptapeta, English name "mulan magnolia / tulip magnolia / lily magnolia".
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| [kobushi, magnolia kobus] |
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[kobushi, magnolia kobus]  The two species look a bit alike because both of them belong to genus "magnolia", but observe them carefully and you will notice that the blossoms of magnolia heptapeta are almost upright while those of magnolia kobus are not. Many members of genus magnolia have upright blossoms. A good example is magnolia grandiflora, or southern magnolia from North America. Why upright? This question lingered in my head for a long time and I now think I have found the answer. In many Internet sites about the genus magnolia, I see this explanation: "Magnolia is an ancient genus that had evolved before bees appeared, so the flowers developed to encourage pollination by beetles. As a result, Magnolia flowers are tough, to avoid damage by beetles. " Although these sites do not explain why flowers are upright, but we can easily assume that upright flowers were more comfortable for beetles to stay there for a long time. Most of the beetles cannot stay in the flowers that look downward, can they? |
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