Miniature wonder: admiring Asteraceae pollens under microscope

 

Er … a sort of Naomi’s boom for Spring 2023. I’m in for collecting pollens these days. It’s not for culinary purposes or something, but to admire them under microscope. Actually, last fall when I walked Niiharu Citizen Forest with the researchers from Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Natural History, they taught me this fun. The way to collect pollens is simple.

<What you need>

1. Black construction paper, cut into, … er … 3cm*5cm cards, or in a similar size.

The card is small enough to carry to a field, but large enough to work with.

2. Transparent Scotch tape, preferably 2cm or so wide.

Here.
The white sticker on the construction paper is
to write down the name of flower.

<What to do>

1. Put 2-3 cm long scotch tape on a flower, gently push the sticky side on the stamen to collect pollens.
2. Paste the scotch tape with pollens on a card of construction paper. 

3. Enjoy them under microscope!

Flatweed flower with scotch tape.

I pasted the tape with pollens on a construction paper card …

and admire them under a microscope on my desk.

I’m still sorting out my collection ... This week, I’ll show you some of my cards for the flowers of Asteraceae family.

Oriental false hawksbeard

Their pollens look like yellow confetti. 😊

Common sowthistle

Theirs are also like candies, but the spikiness is, it seems to me, sharper than Oriental false hawksbeard.

Jersey Cudweed

Hmmmm. This candy-like pollen looks like a petit potato.

Flatweed

So far, this looks the most appetizing as a candy, don’t you think?

Eastern daisy fleabane

Wow. These fecund-looking pollens are true to their notoriety as super-invasive species!

It’s interesting the pollens from the same family look similar each other. I mean, pollens for Asteraceae family all have spikes … like COVID viruses … Are the spikes do something for their procreation? For contrast, here is from another family, Garryaceae to be exact.

They are pollens for Japanese laurel. I used thick double-sided tape for this photo. Pro for this approach was I don’t have to carry a tape cutter, as long as I prepare the card beforehand with the tape. But the level of transparency is lower with double-sided tape. In addition, the tape was too thick to stabilize microscope over it. So I abandoned this approach.

I’m sorry for these out-of-focus photos from microscope. It’s difficult to stabilize my Android over the microscope … Also, I think I need to find better Scotch tape with more transparency. My trial continues …

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/

Bamboo shoots in the new era? 2023 bamboo shoot harvesting in Kanagawa Prefecture

 

A bit strange this spring is not limited to cherry blossoms. The case in point is bamboo shoots, aka Takenoko. I don’t know how professional Takenoko farmers do for stable production of their produce. But, in general in Kanagawa Prefecture, bamboo shoots that can be harvested from bamboo forests managed by volunteers have a sort of pattern in annual yield. It alternates bumper and poor years. We volunteers dig bamboo shoots not for harvesting ag produce, but for controlling the wild spread of bamboos that can damage the ecosystem of entire forest. Poor year is poor year, and we accept it philosophically. Last year, 2022, was a bumper year. This year was not much. OK. Then I noticed a bit strange thing in bamboo forests. It’s not about bamboo shoots but the ground.

As I told you in my post for May13, 2016, for digging up bamboo shoots, we remove soil around the shoot, then strike down the root part. How deep we have to dig is actually not much regardless of the size of the shoot. It’s about 20cm or so deep and we reach the connection point of the shoot and its underground rhizome. When we meet with that joint, it’s time to strike and remove the shoot from the rhizome. This year, I noticed when we dig the ground around a shoot, the soil that is moist is top 5cm or so at best. Below that, it is dry. Sometimes my hoe finds even crumbly underground around the rhizome. That’s strange. Yeah, it’s easy when the root does not stick to the ground when we harvest a bamboo shoot. Thank God. But I feel a slight discomfort. Bamboo forest is a dim place. Botanically speaking, bamboos are not trees, but extremely tall grass many of whose leaves remain bushy and green all year long. They shed older leaves gradually, just like evergreen trees. Their leaves tend to remain on the ground but not so fine as cypresses so it can keep rainwater that reach to the ground more. Bamboo forest is a dim and humid place. Its ground tends to retain water. But this year …

Could you see the crumbling soil around the shoot?

March 2023 was an average year for Yokohama in terms of precipitation. According to the stats from Yokohama Meteorological Station, we had 140mm rainfall for March 2023. 1991-2020 average is 139.5, so we had a bit more rain last month than the average. Not bad for Takenoko to come out. Though the way rain fell may not have been the same as, say, 40 years ago. Below is the scatter plots I’ve created from the precipitation data for Yokohama.

To keep the graph easier to see, I intentionally dropped the March 1st data since in 2003, when Yokohama had a huge rain, 153.5mm to be exact. The horizontal axis is for days of March for 2023, 2022, 2003, 1993, and 1983. Each colored dot is amount or H2O dropped from heaven. 2023 rain has light green, 2022 is pale blue, 2003 is tangerine yellow, 1993 smoky green, and 1983 is marine blue. Don’t you think dots for 2003, 1993 and 1983 spread more for the entire moth, but 2023 and 2022 colors tend to gather around a particular day or a week?

Lifting!

The other day in a public seminar, Prof. Kishi of Keio University speculated on the influence of global warming on riskiness of large flood for Tsurumi and Tama Rivers. He doubted the possibility of an increase in total amount of rain our area receives in a year because of climate change. But the way for the clouds gathered above our head may have become different from those of yesteryears, he said. Sea waters are warmer and the westerlies meander that mix warm and cold air above unexpected way. He guessed it may make a linear rainband formed more easily than the time of less warming era. So, “When it rains, it pours,” and in-between days are very dry … Is the soil around bamboo shoots affected?

Raining …

For Japanese ordinary supermarkets, roughly 90% of bamboo shoots are imported from China and South-east Asia. So, pricewise, the effect of climate change may not appear much and Japanese could enjoy meals unnoticed the difference in bamboo forests around us. In any case, bamboos in Japanese residential areas now are nuisance, which invade non-bamboo forests and wither the other vegetation ... Er … they may be telling something to us silently …

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/

Sakura Sakura: many kinds of cherry blossoms around us in Kanagawa Prefecture

Cherry blossoms this year was too early … According to a weather forecaster here, Japanese Meteorological Agency has the 70 years’ record of full-bloom for Somei-Yoshino cherry blossoms. They are in Agency’s 48 observation points, i.e. one for each prefecture of Japanese archipelago. The agency also define how they call it “full bloom.” When 80% of buds of a sample tree at an observation point have opened, they record it as “the date of full bloom.” When we check 70 years’ average for the “full bloom” day of each observatory, there are only 3 places in which their benchmark tree developed completely before the end of March; they are Kochi 高知 (March 30), Fukuoka 福岡 and Tokyo (March 31). Then, this year, all the places south of Miyagui Prefecture 宮城県　have seen the full-bloom before April Fool comes … too early joke.

This photo was taken on March 27 this year
in Niiharu Citizen Forest 新治市民の森.

But such restlessness has one caveat. The “official” report of fully blooming Sakura is about Somei Yoshino tree. It’s one breed of cherries among hundreds of kinds. Somei Yoshino was artificially crossbreed in the middle of the 19th century by nurseries in Somei Village which is now Komagome 駒込 and Sugamo 巣鴨 towns of Toshima Ward 豊島区, Tokyo. The mom of Somei-Yoshino was Edo Higan, aka Cerasus itosakura var. itosakura f. ascendens that is wild cherry found in Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu islands of Japan, and in Seju Island of South Korea. Edo Higan blooms fully in pink or white before leaves come out, which is inherited by her baby Somei Yoshino. She can grow huge, like 20-30m tall, and live long. It is said that Edo Higan named “Jindai-Sakura,” in Jissoh-ji Temple 實相寺 of Yamanashi Prefecture 山梨県, is 1800 to 2000 years old … As it can have such loooong life cycle, it takes time to develop flowers, sometimes for more than tens of years. I guess nurseries of the 19th century thought there was a room for improvement to make the tree commercial product. They brought dad, Ooshima Zakura, aka Cerasus speciosa that is another Japanese endemic wild cherry spreading in the area south of Kanto region 関東.

Beautiful and strong mother, Edo Higan.

Ooshima Zakura has lots of white flowers that open together with leaves. It can be 10-15m tall, not as tall as the mom, but its strength lies in quick coppicing and growth. The tree has no problem of hard coppicing in every 10-20 years. Ooshima Zakura has flavorful aroma in its entire body, if not that strong as roses. Young leaves of Ooshima Zakura are harvested to be salted and used for cooking, including pink Sakuramochi sweet dumplings. The trunks and boughs have fine-texture good enough for nice furniture. People planted them in their Satoyama backyard for harvesting firewood and the other usages. He can cover slowness of Edo Higan, and so, Somei-Yoshino was born. Somei Yoshino grows 10-15m tall like its dad, opens flowers first before leaves like mom and quickly like dad, and spreading its bough widely like its parents. Handsome kid.

Hello dad! Ooshima Zakura

Sad thing is, Somei Yoshino does not have a long and resilient lifespan like its parents. These days tree doctors concluded Somei Yoshino would meet its end when it’s 100 years or so old. Moreover, all the Somei Yoshinos are clones. The sprouting of Somei Yoshino seeds is extremely difficult but the nurseries must have recovered the cost of product development efficiently. People propagated Somei Yoshino by cuttings. They are exactly the same at the gene level. Consequently, as long as the environmental conditions are similar enough, Somei Yoshino blooms at the same time wherever it is planted. This is one of the reasons why Meteorological Agency can use it as an indicator for the changes of seasons in Japanese archipelago. i.e. The other kinds of cherry trees bloom in different times. Some even have flowers in fall. So, even if we miss the chance to admire the flowers of Somei Yoshino, which lasts less than a week, we can enjoy another cherry flowers for about a month or two. We don’t have to be in a hurry.

This is called Cerasus ×subhirtella ‘Autumnalis’ Makino
that flowers twice in a year:
once in autumn, and another in early spring.

When you come to Japanese mountainous areas in early spring,
you can often find such slopes dotted or covered
white or pale pink with wild cherry blossoms …

Here are some non-Somei Yoshinos we can casually meet in Kanagawa Prefecture. To start, please enjoy color gradation of cherry blossoms planted in the Historical Landmark for Saimyoji Temple 最明寺史跡公園 (: my post on January 7th 2022). They are all variety of cherries …

A familiar Japanese endemic species for Sakura is Ceresus jamasakura. If you walk in the forests (not parks) of Yokohama, and find a large Sakura tree, a strong possibility is you’ve encountered this species. They are also strong enough for enduring hard coppicing for firewood. That’s the reason why they are ubiquitous in the area near human settlements. Their flowers last more than a week, which is a bonus for us to admire.

Lots of jamasakura in Yokohama’s Satoyama Garden.

This is one of the largest trees in Niiharu Citizen Forest.
It’s Ceresus jamasakura whose diameter is more than 1m.

Another memorable species is Cerasus itosakura ‘Pendula’ Maxim. Its branches bow down due to the lack of gibberellin, a plant hormone. Such characteristics are recessive inheritance for Edo Higan so that they can appear naturally in mountains. Though the absolute majority of this variety we meet is a cultivar. Here is one of such trees planted in a forestry road of Tanzawa.

Next is doble cherry-blossoms which can last for about 10 days or so. Not much, but definitely longer than Somei Yoshino. We pick them when they are buds but almost start to open, and salt down with rice vinegar for culinary purposes. Its strong pink remains even after salting. When you find any menu containing cherry blossom petals, being it sweets, drinks or appetizers, they have salted double cherry-blossoms. In Japanese tradition, when families of a bride and a gloom meet for the first time before wedding, it is served a cup of tisane called Sakurayu in which pickled cherry blossoms are floating in mildly hot water. The cup has a connotation of celebration. By the way, Kanagawa Prefecture is the leading production area of pickled cherry blossoms of Japan. Some 80% of the annual tonnage originates from our prefecture.

And the last entry for the beauty pageant this week is Cerasus incisa, aka Mame-zakura. This is one of 10 or 11 wild cherry endemics in Japan. It is very hardy: can survive -20°C freezing winter, and can make colonies in volcanic soil. It does not grow tall. Some say average height of the species is about 4m. It starts flowers when young, and in general doesn’t thicken more than 10cm in diameter. It has evolved to endure the climate of the subalpine zone. Due to its hardiness and compactness, it is often used as the base for creating cultivars for gardens and bonsais. The variety of Mame-zakura, especially those found around Mt. Fuji has a special name Fuji-zakura. It’s one of the stars for the group of flora named Fossa Magna elements. I’ll return them in my later post. 😉 Please stay tuned!

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/

Sakura: my eyes are still covered by pink clouds …

 

Hello, last weekend, I’ve been to Historical Landmark for Saimyoji Temple 最明寺史跡公園 (: my post on January 7th 2022). It was … Shangri-la with lots of cherry blossoms ... I lost my words for this week’s post … Let me introduce you several ancient Japanese Waka poems reciting cherry blossoms …

いざこども山べい行かむ桜見に　明日ともいはば散りもこそせめ
良寛

Children, let us off to the hillside now,
To see the cherry blossoms at their play,
Delay not our going, for perhaps by morrow
Their blithe little forms will have scampered away.

Monk Ryokan (1758-1831), English translation by Japanese novelist/ playwriter Masamune Hakucho 政宗白鳥 (1879-1962).



世の中に 絶えて桜のなかりせば 春の心はのどけからまし
在原業平（古今和歌集）

If there were no cherry blossoms in the world,
the heart of spring would be mellow.

Ariwara-no-Narihira for Kokin Wakashu (circa 905), translation by Google!

桜花　咲きかも散ると　見るまでに　誰れかもここに　見えて散り行く
柿本人麻呂（万葉集）

As if cherry blosoms had blossomed and scattered,
were those people who flocked together like them,
then scattered too.

Kakinomoto-no-Hitomaro for Manyoshu (circa 759), translation by Peter MacMillan.

ひさかたの 光のどけき 春の日に　しづ心なく 花の散るらむ
紀友則（古今和歌集）

Cherry Blossoms,
on this calm, lambent
day of spring,
why do you scatter
with such unquiet hearts?

Ki-no-Tomonori for Kokin Wakashu (circa 905), translation by Peter MacMillan.



願わくば　花の下にて春死なむ　その如月の望月の頃
西行（山家集）

Let me die in spring under the blossoming trees,
let it be around that full moon of Kisaragi month.

Monk Saigyo for Sankashu (circa1185), translation by Tomoki Yamabashi.

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/