Luminoki - Luminoki

Japanese: ルリミノキ - るりみのき

An evergreen shrub of the Rubiaceae family. It is so named because its fruits are a beautiful lavender color. It grows 1-1.5m tall, and branches from the trunk usually grow horizontally in pairs. The leaves are oval and 9-15cm long. Several flowers grow in the leaf axils and bloom in May-June. The corolla is tubular and funnel-shaped, white, and turns black when dry. The ovary is inferior and has five locules, each containing one ovule at the base. The fruits are spherical and 8mm in diameter. It is found in Honshu (west of Shizuoka Prefecture), Shikoku, Kyushu, Taiwan, and southern China. There are about 150 species of the Lasianthus genus, mainly in tropical Asia, but none are particularly used.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

アカネ科の常緑低木。果実が美しいるり色となるためこの名がある。高さ1～1.5m，幹から分枝する枝は普通2本ずつ水平に出る。葉は長さ9～15cmの楕円形。花は葉腋（ようえき）に数個ずつつき，5～6月に咲く。花冠は筒状漏斗形，白色で乾くと黒くなる。子房は下位，5室で各室に基生する1個の胚珠がつく。果実は球形，直径8mm。本州(静岡県以西)，四国，九州，台湾，中国南部に分布する。　ルリミノキ属Lasianthusはアジアの熱帯を中心に約150種あるが，とくに利用されるものはない。

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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