アセビの花は小さく、枝先で鈴なりに咲きます。花言葉は木が強い毒を含むので「危険」。一方、花が白く可憐なことから「清純な心」です。
The flowers of Japanese Andromeda are small and bloom like a bell at the tip of the branches. The flower language is “dangerous” because the tree contains strong poison, but it is also “pure heart” because the flower is white and pretty.
【仮名】アセビ, アシビ
【和名】馬酔木
【英名】Japanese Andromeda, Japanese Pieris
【学名】Pieris japonica
【誕生】03/ 09, 03/ 23, 04/ 04
【開花】02, 03, 04, 05月
【花色】White, Pink
アセビ
アセビの生態
アセビはツツジ科の常緑低木です。日本では本州の山形県、宮城県から四国、九州の南西諸島まで、国外では台湾、中国に分布。日当たりがよい山地の少し乾燥したところに自生しています。花言葉は木が強い毒を含むので「危険」。一方、花が白く可憐なことから「清純な心」です。
アセビの名前
アセビの名前の由来は、毒性のある葉を食べた馬が痺れたようになるため、「足痺」「悪し実」から転訛。和名も葉を食べた馬が酔ったようになるので「馬酔木」です。英名のアンドロメダは英雄ペルセウスの妻、ラテン語の属名ピエリスは詩の女神で、いずれもギリシャ神話に由来。
アセビの姿形
アセビの幹は樹皮が灰褐色で、縦に裂け目が入ります。葉は先の尖った楕円形で、縁に浅い鋸歯が入り、枝先で互生。花は小さく、枝先で鈴なりに咲き、微かに香ります。花冠は壺型で浅く５裂、雄しべが10本。花後の蒴果は上を向き、熟すと褐色になって裂開し、種子を散らします。
アセビの種類
アセビの種類は、大きな「ヒマラヤ馬酔木」、小さな「姫馬酔木」、葉に模様が入る「斑入り馬酔木」、花穂が垂れ下がる「穂長馬酔木」、花が上を向く「受咲馬酔木」、花が桃色の「曙馬酔木」、桃色が濃い「紅花馬酔木」、薄い「薄紅馬酔木」、新芽が赤色の「興山馬酔木」など。
アセビの利用
アセビの木は有毒成分のアセボトキシン、アンドロメドトキシン、アセボプルプリン、アセボインを含みます。誤って食べると神経や筋肉が麻痺し、眩暈や嘔吐などのほか、血圧が低下することも。一方、そのような毒性を活かし、葉を煎じるなどして害虫駆除などに用いられました。
Japanese Andromeda
Ecology of Japanese Andromeda
Japanese Andromeda is an evergreen shrub of the Ericaceae family. Distributed in Japan from Yamagata and Miyagi prefectures in Honshu to Shikoku and the Nansei Islands in Kyushu, and overseas in Taiwan and China. It grows wild in sunny, slightly dry areas in mountains. The flower language is “dangerous” because the tree contains strong poison, but it is also “pure heart” because the flower is white and pretty.
Name of Japanese Andromeda
In Japanese, Japanese Andromeda means “leg numbness” or “bad fruit” because horses that eat the poisonous leaves become numb. The kanji also means “horse drunken tree” because horses who eat the leaves get drunk. The English name Andromeda is the wife of the hero Perseus, and the Latin genus name Pieris is the goddess of poetry, both derived from Greek mythology.
Shape of Japanese Andromeda
The trunk of Japanese Andromeda has gray-brown bark with vertical fissures. The leaves are elliptical with pointed tips, with shallow serrations on the edges, and are alternate at the branch tips. The flowers are small, bloom like a bell at the tip of the branches, and have a faint fragrance. The corolla is vase-shaped and shallowly 5-lobed with 10 stamens. After flowering, the capsules turn upward, turn brown when ripe, and split open to scatter the seeds.
Types of Japanese Andromeda
The types of Japanese Andromeda are the large “Himalaya-asebi”, the small “Hime-asebi”, “Fuiri-asebi” with patterns on the leaves, “Honaga-asebi” with flower spikes drooping, “Ukezaki-asebi” with upward-facing flowers, “Akebono-asebi” with pink flowers, “Benibana-asebi” with dark pink flowers, “Usubeni-asebi” with pale pink flowers, and “Kouzan-asebi” with red shoots.
Use of Japanese Andromeda
Japanese Andromeda tree contains the toxic components acebotoxin, andromedotoxin, acebopurpurin and aceboin. If you eat it by mistake, your nerves and muscles will become paralyzed, causing dizziness, vomiting, and even lower blood pressure. On the other hand, taking advantage of such toxicity, decoction of the leaves was used for pest control.
