Hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa)

Japanese: ヒノキ(檜) - ヒノキ（英語表記）Chamaecyparis obtusa

An evergreen tall tree of the cypress family. It grows wild in the mountains of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu from Yakushima to the southern Tohoku region, but is widely planted as a high-quality building material and is also commonly cultivated as a garden tree. The trunk grows straight and can reach a height of 30 to 40 meters. The bark is reddish brown and splits vertically, falling off in thin flakes. The leaves are scaly and arranged in opposite crosses, with the upper and lower leaves attached closely to the twigs and thin branches and blunt at the tip, while the left and right leaves are sickle-shaped or boat-shaped and open to the left and right. The underside of the leaves has a Y-shaped white wax along the stomatal line. The flowers are dioecious and bloom in early spring. Many male flowers are broadly ovate and purple-brown in clusters. The female flowers are spherical and bear four ovules on the scales. The cones ripen to brown in the fall of the same year and are about 1 cm in diameter. Common horticultural varieties include C. obtusa var. breviramea , C. obtusa var. filicoides , and C. obtusa var. pendula . The wood is particularly used in shrine construction. It is also widely used for ships, sculptures, and equipment. Hinoki ropes made from the bark are used for anchor ropes and raft ropes because they do not easily rot in water, and the essential oil extracted from the leaves is used as a fragrance and solvent. Hinoki means "fire tree" because fire was made by rubbing the wood together.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

ヒノキ科の常緑高木。屋久島から東北地方南部まで，本州，四国，九州の山地に自生するが，高級建築材として広く植林され，また庭園樹としても普通に栽植される。幹はまっすぐに伸び，高さ 30～40mにもなる。樹皮は赤褐色で縦に裂け，薄片となってはげ落ちる。葉は鱗片状で十字対生し，上下のものは小枝や細枝に密着して先が鈍く，左右のものは鎌形ないし舟形で左右に開いている。葉の下面には気孔線に沿ってY字形に白いろうがある。雌雄異花で，早春に開花する。雄花は多数が広卵形に集ってつき紫褐色。雌花は球形で鱗片上に4胚珠を生じる。球果はその年の秋に褐色に熟し，径 1cm前後になる。園芸品種にはチャボヒバ C. obtusa var. breviramea，クジャクヒバ C. obtusa var. filicoides，スイリュウヒバ C. obtusa var. pendulaなどがよくみられる。材は特に社殿建築に多く用いられる。また船舶材，彫刻材，器具材などにも広く利用される。樹皮でつくるひのき縄は水で腐りにくいので錨縄，筏縄などとし，葉から得た精油は香料や溶剤となる。ヒノキは「火の木」の意で，この木をこすり合せて火をつくったことによる。

出典　ブリタニカ国際大百科事典小項目事典ブリタニカ国際大百科事典小項目事典について　情報

<<: Pinocchio

>>: Hino River