フィールド日記

ヒノキ林の林床で、ウラジロの休止芽が伸びだしていました。ウラジロは地下茎から一対の羽片をもつ葉が伸びてきます。羽片の中央には芽がありますが、いったん成長を止めることから休止芽と呼ばれます。休止芽は翌年の春に伸びて、新たな一対の羽片と休止芽をつけます。このように毎年1段ずつ成長していくので、2m以上になるものもあります。ウラジロは縁起がよい植物としてお正月の飾りに使われます。


A resting bud of "Urajiro (ウラジロ)" fern plants is starting to grow on the Japanese cypress woodland floor. They grow from an underground stem with a pair of pinnate leaves. There is a bud at the center of the pair of pinnate leaves, but the bud stop growing once. this is why the bud is called "resting bud". The resting bud starts to grow in the next spring and produce a new pair of pinnate leaves and a new resting bud again. As they grow step by step every year, their leaves can grow up to more than 2 meter in length. They are regarded as lucky plants, so they are used for the ornaments for the New Year's Day.