Studies of Plants and Wildlife

March 28, 2009

Nogawa Park and ICU (March 28th)

Cherry blossoms at the ICU campus.

We went to Nogawa Park and the ICU campus to see the cherry blossoms.
It was not the peak yet, but at the ICU campus about 30 - 40 % of the cherry blossoms were blooming.

Cherry at the ICU.

Viola grypoceras (Tachitsubo Sumire) at the ICU.

Gentiana zollingeri (Fude Rindou) at the ICU.
Most of them didn't open yet, but we found a few of the blue flowers open.

Maple leaves in Nogawa Park.

Lindera umbellata (Kuromoji).

Viola grypoceras (Tachitsubo Sumire) in Nogawa Park.

Viola keiskei (Maruba Sumire).

Viola verecunda (Nyoi Sumire).

Astragalus sinicus (Genge, Renge).

Taraxacum albidum (Shirobana Tanpopo).

Chelidonium japonicum (Yamabuki-sou).

Matteuccia struthiopteris (Kusa-sotetsu, Kogomi).
This is called Ostrich fern in English. What an interesting naming!
The young sprouts of this kind of fern is edible.
It tastes really good with soy sauce and a bit of ground ginger after boiling quickly.

March 21, 2009

Mt. Takao and Ura Takao Area (March 21st)

The view from the top of Mt. Takao.
It was a little bit hazy but we could see Mt. Fuji.

Today we went to Mt. Takao. There were lots of people visiting there. Violets were starting to bloom. On the way back to the Takao Station from Ja-taki-guchi, we wanted to check the place where some Viola yezoensis f. discolor (Takao Sumire) plants grow, but some stupid Obasans were stepping on the spot and destroying the plants!! I was pretty shocked. How could some people be so stupid! Their guide didn't even care about it, it seemed... Pretty sad.

Anemone flaccida (Nirin-sou) on the No. 6 trail.

Chrysosplenium album　var. stamineum (Hana-neko-no-me) on the No. 6 trail.

Viola tokubuchiana var. takedana (Hina Sumire) on the Inariyama trail.

Viola eizanensis (Eizan Sumire) on the Inariyama trail.

Viola eizanensis (Eizan Sumire) on the No. 3 trail.

Viola bissetii (Nagaba-no-sumire-saishin) on the No. 3 trail.

Omphalodes japonica (Yama Ruri-sou) on the No. 3 trail.

The view from the trail down to Ja-taki waterfall.

Oxalis griffithii var.kantoensis (Kantou Miyama Katabami) at the Ura Takao area.

Viola bissetii (Nagaba-no-sumire-saishin) at the Ura Takao area.

Anemone pseudoaltaica (Kikuzaki Ichige).

Corydalis lineariloba (Yama Engosaku).

Gagea lutea (Kibano-no-amana).

March 19, 2009

ICU and Nogawa Park (March 20th)

Morel mushroom in the campus of ICU.
It looks weird, but it tastes really good.

This morning it was raining, but it stopped raining around noon, so we took a walk in the campus of ICU and Nogawa Park.

Viola japonica (Ko Sumire) at ICU.

Gentiana zollingeri (Fude Rindou) at ICU.

Magnolia kobus (Kobushi) at ICU... We found quite a few of them around our place.

A kind of cherry blossom found in Nogawa Park. It has just started to bloom.

Beautiful green grass.

Weeping willows started to become green.

Equisetum arvense (Sugina, Tsukushi).

Magnolia kobus (Kobushi) in Nogawa Park.

Viola japonica (Ko Sumire) in Nogawa Park.

Malus sieboldii (Zumi)...I think.

Kaniska canace (Ruri Tateha).

Morel mushrooms picked at the ICU campus.

Steak with morel mushrooms and roasted potatoes.
It tasted really good. (Those purple potatoes bought at Hinatawada JA store was pretty good, too!)

Yoshino Baigo, Hinatawada (March 15th)

Yoshino Baigo. （吉野梅郷）

We went to Hinatawada sta. on the Ome line to go to Plum Garden at Yoshino Baigo.
At the JA store on the way to the garden, we bought some Umeboshi (pickled Ume plums) as we always do. We always get Umeboshi there for Onigiri (rice ball). Not only near the garden itself but also at the whole area around there it was filled with nice fragrance of plum blossoms.