|
The "Isuno-ki" (Distylium racemosum) belongs to Hamamelidaceae (the Witch hazel family). It is a tall evergreen tree that is distributed from the Izu Peninsula of Honshu west to Shikoku and Kyushu, as well as Taiwan, Jeju-do and southeastern China. This tree grows along the warm coast and is strong against pruning, so it is often used for hedges. The leaves are elliptic, alternate and with petioles. The racemes are borne at the axils and red flowers will bloom from March to April. The upper part of the clusters are bisexual flowers, and the lower part are male flowers, though they are non-petaled and have only red stamens. In Taiwanese Chinese, it is called "蚊母樹", and "蚊母樹" (wen mu shu) in Chinese.
In Korean, it's called "jo-rok-na-mu" (조록나무). This is a compound word consisting of "jo-rok" (조록) + "tree" (na-mu: 나무). "jo-rok" is a Jeju Island dialect word meaning "pouch", and it came to be used to describe a tree with small pouches (insect gall) attached to it.

The second to fourth are photos of a kind of gall.
|