Somewhere in Western Tokyo (June 21st)

 

 Epipactis thunbergii (Kaki Ran).

"Kaki" means "persimmon" in Japanese.

     We went to see some orchid flowers by some rice paddies in a valley.

We could see quite a few of them blooming.  This kind of orchid has lovely flowers with amazing combination of colors, orange and pink!

去年は独りで見に行ったカキラン。今年は相方と一緒に見に行くことができました。

 

  

Epipactis thunbergii (Kaki Ran).

 

Epipactis thunbergii (Kaki Ran).

 

Epipactis thunbergii (Kaki Ran).

  

 Epipactis thunbergii (Kaki Ran).

There were still quite a few unopened buds.

  

 Spiraea japonica (Shimotsuke).

 

I couldn't identify this tiny yellow flower.

 

Spiranthes sinensis var. amoena (Nejibana).

 

Spiranthes sinensis var. amoena (Nejibana).

 

Cirsium japonicum (No Azami).

 

 Lotus japonicus (Miyako-gusa).

  

Prunella vulgaris subsp. asiatica (Utsubo-gusa).

 

Epipactis thunbergii (Kaki Ran).

 

Epipactis thunbergii (Kaki Ran).
 

 

Epipactis thunbergii (Kaki Ran).

 

Epipactis thunbergii (Kaki Ran).

 

Epipactis thunbergii (Kaki Ran).
 

 

Epipactis thunbergii (Kaki Ran).

 

Epipactis thunbergii (Kaki Ran).

 

We found a nice tree of Persimmon (Kaki).

The fruits were, of course, still green.

Another Kind of Orchid

 

Galearis cyclochila (Kamome Ran).

    We found another kind of orchid, too.
We found them last year, but we succeeded in finding more of them this year.

こちらもたくさん咲いていました。
去年見つけたときは、気が付かなかったところにかなり群生していました。

 

Galearis cyclochila (Kamome Ran).

 

Galearis cyclochila (Kamome Ran).

The Amazing Orchid

 

 Cypripedium macranthum var. speciosum (Atsumori-sou).

    We went to see the orchid we found last year.

We found only one plant last year, but this year, we found three of them!

そろそろ咲いてるかなと思って行ってみたら、咲いてくれてました。

去年は一株だけでしたが、今年は3つ見つけました。

 

 

Cypripedium macranthum var. speciosum (Atsumori-sou).

 

Cypripedium macranthum var. speciosum (Atsumori-sou).

 

The flowers were in their prime!

 

Isn't it beautiful?

 

 

 花の後ろのシュッと直立した葉っぱも凛々しいですね。

 

 

 

The First Time to See

 

 Paeonia obovata (Benibana Yama Shakuyaku).

It was our first time to see this kind of flower!

This one is the first plant we found.

 

 

Paeonia obovata (Benibana Yama Shakuyaku).

Here is the other one we found. 

The size of flower is smaller than that of Paeonia japonica (Yama Shakuyaku).

 

The close-up of the one above.

 

 

 

You can see the inside of the flower.

 

Paeonia obovata (Benibana Yama Shakuyaku).

The leaves were also pretty.

 

 

 

Paeonia obovata (Benibana Yama Shakuyaku).

Once again, this is the first one we found.

 

 

 

 

It looks as if we had found so many of them, 

but we found only two of them.