ムクノキの実

昨日と今日と雨と嵐でほとんどの落葉樹がほぼ丸裸にされてしまいました。ムクノキも例外ではありません。葉を落とした枝にひからびた実がいくつか残っています。この実はもともと液果で、果肉が熟した頃はムクドリなどが大挙して食事に訪れていましたが、ドライフルーツ状態になった実は、見向きもされないようです。私の郷里ではムクノキを見た覚えがありませんが、京都の町中や林縁ではしばしば目にする木です。大きく太くなりますが、内部が腐食しやすく、いつの間にか空洞ができ、巨木と思っても台風などであっけなく倒れてしまった木を、ここ数年の間に何本か見ました。葉は珪酸成分でざらつくので、漆器の木地を仕上げる際に、トクサのように紙やすり代わりに用いられたということです。

     Yesterday and today, the rain and storms have almost completely stripped most of the deciduous trees. Mukunoki (Aphananthe aspera) is no exception. There are still a few dried berries on the branches. These fruits were originally covered with juicy flesh, and when the fruit was ripe, starlings and other birds came in droves to eat them, but now that they are dried, birds don't seem to pay any attention to them. 

     I don't remember ever seeing muku trees in my hometown, but in Kyoto, I often see them at the edge of forests. It grows large and thick, but the inside is easily corroded, and before long a hollow space is created, and I have seen several trees in the past few years that fell over easily in typhoons. The leaves are rough because of their silicic acid content, so they were used as sandpaper for finishing the wood of lacquer ware, like tokusa, or rough horsetail (Equisetum hyemale).

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