１１月１３日（火曜日）２０１８
桃原（もばら）ごぼうの復活に力を入れている中川信子さんが桃原で採れた 「藤袴（フジバカマ）」の花を持って来てくださいました。フジバカマは 秋の七草の一つ。中川さんから「桜餅の香りがするよ」と教えてもらい花に鼻を近づけると、なるほど「美味しいにおい」がします。この芳香は「クマリン」という成分のせいだそうです。初冬に秋の花がそばにあって春の桜餅の香りがするなんて面白いなと思いました。Ms. N.Nakagawa who has been putting in her efforts towards reviving Mobara goboo (burdock) brought me "Fujibakama (Thoroughwort)" from a mountain village, Mobara. Fujibakama is one of the seven autumnal flowers. She told me that it smells like Sakura-mochi (rice cake with bean paste wrapped in a preserved cherry leaf), so I put my nose close to the flower of Fujibakama. Indeed it smelled like a delicious Sakura-mochi. She also told me it is because of the component "coumarin". I think it is interesting that there are autumn flowers beside me now despite it being the early months of winter, and that they smell of a Japanese traditional sweet enjoyed in the springtime.
