Spring flower
After the blossoms fall, two red dots appear on the petioles of a cherry tree’s young leaves. These are extrafloral nectaries, and the tree uses… Read More »The Hidden Nectaries on a Cherry Tree’s Leafstalk: Calling Ants from the Leaves, Not the Flowers
Though named ‘Japanese cornel,’ sansuyu has been an East Asian medicine for over two thousand years. Follow its path from the Shennong Bencao Jing and… Read More »How Sansuyu Became a Medicinal Herb: The Textual History and Chemistry of Cornus officinalis
Peaches and nectarines are not different fruits but the same species separated by a single gene. From the five-petal flowers that open before the leaves,… Read More »The Secret of Peach Blossoms and Peach Fuzz: Design in Five Petals and Tiny Hairs
We call the cherry blossom Japan’s national flower, yet Japan has no flower designated by law. This article untangles the history of the symbol, the… Read More »Is the Cherry Blossom Japan’s National Flower? A Lawless Symbol and the Single-Clone Somei-yoshino
How Prunus mume blooms in the depth of winter, what gives its blossoms their bitter-almond fragrance, and how unripe ume defends itself with amygdalin and… Read More »Plum Blossoms in Snow: Fragrance Chemistry and the Defenses of Unripe Ume
Before a single leaf appears, Cornus officinalis opens yellow flowers on bare gray branches. This seemingly hasty order layers low-threshold flower buds, insect-attracting signals, and… Read More »Why Does Cornus officinalis Flower Before Its Leaves? The Strategy of Early Spring Bloom
