Taiwan Forsythia (English name) Sky flower

Japanese: タイワンレンギョウ（英語表記）sky flower

An evergreen shrub of the Verbenaceae family that bears many small purple flowers in long racemes at the ends of branches. It is also called Harimatsuri. It is planted in greenhouses for decorative purposes, and is used as a garden tree or hedge in the tropics. It is native to tropical America, from Florida, the West Indies, and Mexico to Brazil. It grows to about 3 m in height, with four-sided branches that tend to droop at the tips. The nodes are thorny, and the young parts are densely covered with short soft hairs. The leaves are opposite, obovate, 2 to 10 cm long, and come in various sizes. The tips of the leaves are pointed and have coarse sawtooth.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

枝先に小さな藤色の花を長い総状花序に多数つけるクマツヅラ科の常緑低木。ハリマツリともいう。観賞用として温室に植えられ，熱帯では庭木や生垣に使われる。原産地はフロリダ，西インド諸島，メキシコからブラジルの熱帯アメリカ。高さ3mくらいで，枝は4稜をなし，先端は下垂しやすい。節にはとげがあり，若い部分には短い軟毛が密生する。葉は対生し，倒卵形で長さ2～10cmで大小がある。葉の先はとがり，粗い鋸歯がある。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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