オオツヅラフジは山野の林縁などで自生。絡み合った蔓や大きな葉の陰に隠れて目立たないものの、枝先に黄白色の可憐な花々を咲かせます。
Orient Vine grows naturally in the forest edges of the mountains and fields. It has lovely yellow-white flowers at the tips of its branches, though they are hidden behind the entwined vines and large leaves.
【仮名】オオツヅラフジ, ツヅラフジ
【和名】大葛藤. 葛藤
【英名】Orient Vine
【学名】Sinomenium acutum
【誕生】06/ ??
【開花】06, 07月
【花色】White, Yellow
オオツヅラフジ
オオツヅラフジの生態
オオツヅラフジはツヅラフジ科の落葉樹です。日本では関東から四国、九州、南西諸島まで、国外では中国、台湾、タイ、ネパール、インドに分布。山野の林縁などで自生しています。ラテン語の属名は「中国の半月形」で産地と種子の形を、種名は「鋭い形の」で尖った葉先を表象。
オオツヅラフジの和名
オオツヅラフジの和名の由来は、蔓が藤に似ていて、蓋つきの編み籠「つづら」の材料になり、葉が近縁の青葛藤よりも大きいから。地面を這うときに細く緑色だった蔓は、何かに取り付くと反時計回りに巻き上がり、太く黒褐色になります。葉は互生し、ハート形から掌形まで様々。
オオツヅラフジの葛藤
オオツヅラフジは葛藤を「かっとう」と読めば絡み合った葛や藤のように身動きが取れない状態のこと。そのような葛藤の陰に隠れて目立たないものの、枝先に黄白色の可憐な花々を咲かせます。花は花弁も萼片も６枚ずつの雌雄異花。雄花の花糸は10本前後、雌花の花柱は３つです。
オオツヅラフジの毒性
オオツヅラフジは花後、小さな球形の核果が房状に着き、熟すと青黒く変色。果実は毒性のあるアルカロイド「シノメニン」などを多く含み、誤って食べると中枢神経麻痺などを起こします。一方、蔓と根は「防已」という生薬に。漢方では関節痛、神経痛、利尿などに用いられます。
Orient Vine
Orient Vine habitat
Orient Vine is a deciduous tree of the Menispermaceae family. In Japan, it is distributed from Kanto to Shikoku, Kyushu, and Nansei Islands, and overseas, it is distributed in China, Taiwan, Thailand, Nepal, and India. It grows naturally in forest edges of mountains and fields. The Latin genus name is ‘Chinese half-moon shape,’ representing the place of origin and the shape of the seed, and the species name is ‘sharp-shaped,’ representing the pointed leaf tip.
Japanese name of Orient Vine
The origin of the Japanese name ‘Large woven basket wisteria’ comes from the fact that the vines resemble wisteria and are used as a material for woven baskets with lids, and the leaves are larger than the closely related species. The vines, which were thin and green when they crawled on the ground, curled up in a counterclockwise direction when attached to something and turned thick and dark brown. The leaves are alternate and vary from heart-shaped to palm-shaped.
Flowers of Orient Vine
Some characters in Orient Vine have different meanings. It means a state of being stuck like a tangle of vine or wisteria. It has lovely yellow-white flowers at the tips of its branches, though they are hidden behind the entwined vines and wisteria. The flowers are dioecious with 6 petals and 6 sepals. Male flowers have about 10 filaments and female flowers have 3 style.
Orient Vine toxicity
After flowering, small globular drupes grow in clusters, turning bluish-black when ripe. The fruit contains a lot of toxic alkaloids such as ‘sinomenine’, and if eaten by mistake, it causes central nervous system paralysis. On the other hand, the vines and roots are used as a herbal medicine called ‘Bohi’. In traditional Chinese medicine, it is used for joint pain, neuralgia, and diuresis.
