Yomena - Yomena

Japanese: ヨメナ - よめな

A perennial plant of the Asteraceae family. It has a long underground stem. The stem is 0.6-1.2 meters tall, branches at the top, and often has a purple tinge. The leaves are lanceolate with coarse sawtooth and a slightly glossy surface. From July to October, the branched ends bear flower heads about 3 centimeters in diameter. The achene is 3.5 centimeters long, and the pappus is 0.5 mm long. It commonly grows in mountains and fields, and on rice field ridges, and is distributed from Honshu to Kyushu. It is thought to be a hybrid between Koyomena and Ooyugagiku, a closely related species that is larger than Yugagiku. It has long been known as a delicious edible vegetable, and young leaves are eaten boiled.

[Hiroyuki Koyama]

Cultural history

Its ancient name is Ohagi (Izumo Fudoki) or Uhagi, and two poems about it in the Manyoshu under the name Uhagi. It was picked in spring, and is thought to have been eaten often, as in the poem "The smoke rising from the fields of Kasugano, the young maidens, pick and boil the Uhagi of the spring fields" (Volume 10). In the Edo period, it was also called Yomegahagi and eaten (Safu). Yomena is one of the familiar wild chrysanthemums, and is a representative wild chrysanthemum. The wild chrysanthemum in Ito Sachio's The Wild Chrysanthemum Grave is also thought to be Kanto Yomena, which is common in the Yagiri area of Matsudo City, Chiba Prefecture, where the story is set.

[Hiroshi Yuasa]

[Reference item] | Yugadaisy

Yomena
It grows in fields and mountains, and on the ridges of rice paddies, and produces flower heads about 3cm in diameter at the ends of its branches. It has long been known as an edible vegetable .

Yomena

Kanto Yomena
It is found in Honshu from the Kanto region northward. The flower heads are slightly smaller than those of the Japanese yomena, and the flower color ranges from white to pale purple. ©Seishohmaru ">

Kanto Yomena

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

キク科の多年草。長い地下茎がある。茎は高さ0.6～1.2メートル、上部で分枝し、紫色を帯びることが多い。葉は披針(ひしん)形で粗い鋸歯(きょし)があり、表面はやや光沢がある。7～10月、分枝した枝先に径約3センチメートルの頭花をつける。痩果(そうか)は長さ3.5センチメートル、冠毛は長さ0.5ミリメートル。山野や田の畦(あぜ)などに普通に生え、本州から九州に分布する。コヨメナとユウガギクより大形の近縁種オオユウガギクとの交雑種と考えられている。昔から美味な食用野菜として知られ、若葉をゆでて食べる。

［小山博滋］

文化史

古名はオハギ（『出雲風土記(いずもふどき)』）あるいはウハギで、『万葉集』にはウハギの名で2首載る。春の摘み草の対象とされ、「春日野(かすがの)に煙(けぶり)立つ見ゆ娘子(おとめ)らし春野の菟芽子(うはぎ)採(つ)みて煮らしも」（巻10）と詠まれているように、よく食べられていたとみられる。江戸時代はヨメガハギともよばれ食用にされた（『菜譜』）。ヨメナは身近な野生菊の一つで、野菊の代表である。伊藤左千夫(さちお)の『野菊の墓』の野菊も、舞台となった千葉県松戸市の矢切(やぎり)近辺にありふれたカントウヨメナとみられる。

［湯浅浩史］

[参照項目] | ユウガギク

ヨメナ

カントウヨメナ

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