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Atago Forest and Green Protection Association

Atago Mountain Plants-Tree 7 (Ham)

This is a page of trees (flowers are displayed on a separate page for each season). Tree names are listed in order of Aiueo on this page. However, typical trees are displayed at the beginning of each page. Images of trees with flowers and fruits are also displayed on seasonal pages. Click on an image to see it in full view, or lay it down to enlarge it.
Needle paulownia. The genus Kalopanax in the family Araliaceae. A tall deciduous broad-leaved tree. Distributed all over Japan. Also known as Sennoki (plug tree), Miyakodara, Tenguuchiwa, Kalopanax, Kalopanax, etc. Although it has the name of Kiri, it is a different species from Kiri. Young trees and branches have sharp thorns, but they disappear when they grow older. The bark of the trunk has vertical streaks that are slightly wavy and deep. The petioles are as long as 10 to 30 cm, and the leaves are large (10 to 25 cm) and split into 5 to 9 pieces, reminiscent of a tengu's prickly pear. The material is easy to process and is used for furniture, musical instruments, and geta. The Ainu people used it for dugout canoe and mortar.
Kalopanax thorns. The thorns are hard and sharp, but as they age, they become rounded, become bumps, and disappear.
Sprout of Kalopanax. Like the sprout of Araliaceae, which belongs to the same Araliaceae family, it is preferred as a delicious edible wild plant. However, since the lye is a little strong, it has a bitter taste, so it is necessary to remove the lye. Therefore, it is also known as Inudara (the plant name "dog" is used to mean "inferior") or Akdara (cod with lye).

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