This summer, I’ve learned every plant has a so-so year, a poor-yield year, or a bumper year. The case in point: Japanese Snake Gourds (Trichosanthes cucumeroides) in Yokohama’s North Forests. They do have a bumper year in 2020. In August morning of Ikebuchi Hiroba Open Space いけぶち広場 for Niiharu Citizen Forest 新治市民の森, we found many, really many, shrunk white flowers of Snake Gourds spreading over the north slope. It maybe because we could not do enough mowing in spring due to the COVID lock down. Their heart-shaped green leaves are tangling with Bush Clover (Lespedeza bicolor), Skunkvine (Paederia foetida), or any other plant within their reach. It’s an impressive look. Not only in Niiharu, but also in the other parts of Yokohama’s North Forest, this year I have found lots of zesty Snake Gourds with numerous shriveled remnants of white flowers. Coming December, how many orange gourds can we find dangling in our forest?
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| Buds and remnants of flowers
for Snake Gourds in Ikebuchi Hiroba Open Space |
In my previous post (for August 31, 2018), I wrote not many people noticed lacy flower of Snake Gourds as they are open only after dark. In 2020, not any more. Thanks to COVID-19, lots of people avoiding 3C (= Closed Space, Close-contact Settings, Confined and Enclosed Spaces) have started to take a walk or jog in neighborhood parks or forests of Megalopolis Tokyo. In addition, this summer is damned hot so that some people venture out before sunrise or after sunset. Lots of white frilly flowers of Snake Gourds stood out in dark. Their flowers became topic of the Megacity. I have a mixed feeling for this. For one thing, it’s a good thing people have noticed delicate beauty of nature in our backyard. Though, before, it was a secret joy of mine admiring their one-night-only show for summer. 😶
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| This is a night scenery near my home in August 2020, along a busy commuter bus street. |
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| Hmmm. The flower is certainly shrunk in the morning. |
So, this year, I tried a bit of cheat. I brought a bud of Snake Gourds home from a forest and put it in a glass. I let it stand in a dark corner of my house … then it opened! It was beautiful. White five petals have elegant strings that make it so attractive. Its pollen tube is very long … 2-3cm from the lacy petals. The pollinator for Snake Gourds is big Hawkmoths that have long enough proboscis to drink honey at the end of the flowers’ long tube. It means, even in this urban environment, there are Hawkmoths that can produce many orange fruits of snake gourds in late autumn. Woooooooooow!
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| Alder hawkmoth (Mimas christophi) in Yadoriki 2019. That was a big bug (; my post on September 13, 2019). This size of moth is flying around in my neighborhood of Yokohama! |
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| In Niiharu, the gourds are already growing. That big moths are flying around during night in Yokohama! |
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| My secret pleasure |
I made a bracelet with seeds of Snake Gourds. Can I harvest more seeds this autumn?
If you find a problem in the Forests of Yokohama, please make a contact with
Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau 横浜市環境創造局
Phone: 045-671-2881
FAX: 045-641-3490
http://www.city.yokohama.lg.jp/kankyo/
If you find environmental issues in Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター
657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121
〒243－0121 厚木市七沢657
Phone: 046-248-0323
You can send an enquiry to them by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/div/1644/
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