When we
walk in a forest of deciduous trees for Kanagawa Prefecture, we could regularly
encounter plants looks like a relative of calla lily. Some of them would be 2
feet tall, the others are more like a feet high. Both of them have a flower
with its “petal,” or “spathe” in academic term. Early spring when they are
buds, their spathe is green just like arum-lily in your garden. Then in late
spring to early summer they have fully developed flowers that have brownish purple
or green whose bottom could be white with stripes. Inside of the spathe, we can
see a long stem, called “spadix” in botany, whose bottom is covered by the
spathe. They are species in Araceae family.
The bigger one is called Mamushigusa
in Japanese (Arisaema Serratum). The
smaller one is Urashimasou in
Japanese (Arisaema Urashima) whose
spadix has a “beard” coming out from the spathe. When I first found an Urashimasou in Kamakura during my hike in
Kamakura-Yokohama Alps, I was a kind of knocked out with its very exotic but
chic demeanor. They are the flower like a confident lady who can sit alone in a
dark corner of a jazz club of metropolis, sip a glass of gin or martini with
the saxophone of Coltrane, and be looked perfectly relaxed. Cool. And, naturally,
dangerous.
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| In April, we can find them like here in Yokohama’s forest. |
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| But
you have to know where to look for their flowers in April. Could you figure it out here for a flower of Urashimasou? |
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| Sometimes,
there is an exception. My first honor to meet with the lady Urashimasou. She was still young as we cannot recognize her fully developed beard outside the spathe. Even though, she was already so gorgeous, wild, and full of confidence, wasn’t she? |
They are hermaphrodite, or to be more precise dioecious in relation to their growth process. The bottom part of a spadix we cannot see from the outside has its flowers. When they are young or cannot grow big enough, their flowers are all male. At this stage, the spathe is loosely covering the spadix. The flower depends on tiny flies, called Tetragoneura sylvatica, for pollination. When a fly comes in for the honey of boys-only spadix, loosely closed spathe easily allows the insects to leave after dinner and carry its pollen to another individual. When they grow old enough, the spadix has only female flowers, with honey of course, and the bottom of its spathe is tightly closed. When a fly with pollens came in for honey they cannot get out after meal. They frantically search for the exit door, but by the time an insect distributes the pistils all the pollens brought from the other Araceae, the fly is completely exhausted and dies inside the spathe. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Dangerous.
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| It’s Mamushigusa I found in April Tanzawa. |
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| Also
in April Tanzawa. Don’t you think it so elegant? |
Both Mamushigusa and Urashimasou are poisonous. According to Masaki Tateno for
University of Tokyo, their entire body contains crystals of calcium oxalate. Hideo
Furuizumi for NCGM Center Hospital analyzed the hazardous chemical from the
plants and listed triterpenoid-saponin and saponin, in addition to calcium
oxalate. When any animal bites them, saponins, or sapotoxins, destroy cellular
membrane of the contacted body parts, and so s/he gets pins and needles with
swollen affected areas. In the worst case scenario, the inner-mouth could
suffer necrosis. Moreover, calcium oxalate causes burning sensation in esophagus
and stomach and then the entire body suffers tetanic contraction due to chemical
reaction between calcium oxalate and ionized calcium within blood. Finally the
toxin reaches to kidneys and causes acute renal failure ... Oh My God, Oh My
God, Oh My God …. The lady is so dangerous.
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| It’s a
green-tinted Mamushigusa, regulars in
Kanto region. I found it in May Tanzawa. It’s even noble … |
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| By
June, the pollination has been completed. This Mamushigusa in Tanzawa develops abundant berries. |
We
Japanese have variety of recipes using tubers of taro from the Araceae family. Inevitably, there are
folk account saying that Mamushigusa
and Urashimasou are also edible after
being treated “traditionally,” such as “exposing julienned plants to running
water long enough, and then, etc. etc.” It is also said in Japan that they are
the same plant of Ten’nanshou 天南星 in China where people use that plant for
traditional medicine. Furuizumi warned that there is no solid scientific
evidence for Japanese Mamushigusa and
Urashimasou being the same plant as the
Chinese Ten’nanshou, or traditional
recipe can remove sapotoxin or calcium oxalate. i.e. Better avoid “traditional”
approach for these plants. Woooooooooooow. Come to think of it, the names of
these plants are also ominous. Mamushigusa
is called so since its stem has jagged black lines similar to viper, Mamushi (Gloydius blomhoffii), whose venom can kill … Urashimasou has its name because of its beard which makes the plant
look like a fairy tale fisherman, Urashimataro
浦島太郎, carrying fishing rod. The story of Urashimataro is Japanese version of Rip
van Winkle, but with one very different point, i.e. a beautiful and “kind” single
lady.
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| A Mamushigusa in Tanzawa shows why it’s
called “Mamushi.” Very obvious jagged lines decorating its stem … |
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| Could
you see a Mamushi = a viper here? I was so upset, and couldn’t maintain the focus … |
The tale
goes like this. Urashimataro was not
a lazy guy like van Winkle but an industrious and tender-hearted young, aged
24-25, eligible bachelor-fisherman who saved a sea turtle from bullying kids on
seashore. The turtle was an incarnation of an attractive sea goddess, named Otohime 乙姫. She
took him to the gorgeous undersea palace of hers as a thank-you gift. There,
the lovely goddess treated him as a passionate lover and showered him with
banquets and any kinds of joy. One day, Urashima
thought such decadent life was not good for him, and wanted to see his parents
left in his village. He bid a farewell to the goddess. She said OK, and gave
him a stunningly lacquered box as a farewell gift. The goddess also said
“Please never open this box.” (That’s the part I find a sort of conspiracy.)
After he returned to the beach on the back of the turtle-goddess he rescued, he
rushed into his village, eager to tell his unbelievable experience. Strangely,
he could not find any friends or acquaintances. Moreover, no one knows him. He
asked passers-by if they know Urashimataro.
They said, that’s the name of a handsome guy who went missing 700 years ago. He
was dumbfounded and, with some reason, opened the box the goddess gave to him.
A smoke came out to cover his entire body, then, surprise! He turned into a
very old man. This is a popular conclusion of this tale, but the oldest written
version of the story, in Otogizoushi 御伽草子 more accurately, continues from here. Transformation
of Urashimataro with a smoke stopped
when he became a crane. Otohime
watched all the conversion of her former lover into a bird in silence, and then
brought Urashimataro-crane to legendary
Hohraisan Mountain 蓬莱山 to be a combo of gods as a husband and a wife. Was
Urashimataro happy with this marriage?
… Oh so dangerous a charming lady can be … and our Urashimasou!
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| Urashimasou in April Yokohama. This one has an obvious beard. Urashimataro is trapped here … |
Even
though, Dr. Tateno of University of Tokyo writes ripen berries of Mamushigusa can be eaten. When they are
matured fully in late autumn, fruits of Mamushigusa
can be extremely red, and sweet. Their red attracts birds and animals that
share the same DNA to think “A red berry is delicious.” He explains this is an
example of co-evolution among different species, and Mamushigusa is using our genetic code for spreading their seeds. In
other words, “Hey, my fruits are so invitingly red and tasty (with lascivious
eyes) … Just come and bite, honey … XXX.” Woooooooooooow. So far, I have not yet
personally met any human who tried the red berries of Mamushigusa. Are we resisting a dangerous liaison with the cool
lady in forest? Was Dr. Tateno so brave to accept the temptation? By the way, in
Japan, the language of flowers for Mamushigusa
is “Magnificent.” That for Urashimasou
is “Be always attentive” and “Thinking long-lost friends.” Oh My God …
* Masaki
Tateno, Sweet Fruits of Mamushigusa. Observing life of plants, #22. UP, 492,
October 2013, p.17. 舘野正樹 「マムシグサの甘い果実：植物の生をみつめる 22」UP, 492,
October 2013, p.17.
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| Mamushigusa in November Tanzawa. Oh so attractive red … |
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| Also
in November Tanzawa. Don’t you think at least one brave soul has tried the temptation …? |
If you find an 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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