TAKAO 599 MUSEUM

Treasures of Mt. Takao

Mt Takao is located at the borderline of warm-temperature zone and cool-temperature zone and various plants from both zones grow. There are a lot of naturally grown plants and their visitors can enjoy seasonal flowers. Over 1,500 kinds of plants are confirmed which is relevant to the number of kinds naturally grow in England. Also, over 60 kinds of plants are first found in Mt. Takao such as Takao Sumire (V. yezoensis f. discolor) and Takao Higodai (Saussurea sinuatoides).

Camellia japonica
Camellia japonica Theaceae
They are an evergreen broad-leaved tree that grows wild around hilly district and low mountain areas. Cortex is gray-brown in color and smooth feeling to touch, but when fungus or algae adhere to the surface of cortex, it sometimes gets patchy pattern of green and white. The trunk grows to be 30 to 40 cm wide. The tree itself is tinged with brownish-red, and utilized for architectural material and Sculpture wood. People can extract camellia oil from the seeds. The leaves are elliptically-shaped about 5 to 10 cm long, about 3 to 6 cm wide with the sharp top as well as a sawtooth (Kyoshi: tooth-like rough part like a saw at the root of a leaf) at the edge. Their characteristic is the leaves are thick and hard feeling to touch. The blossom, seasons are about November to December, or about February to April. They bear 1 to 2 of the large red flowers about 5 cm in diameter beside the leaf of the limb. The flower consists of 5 flower petals as one, with the bottom part of male stamen sticking together and a tea whisk-shape. The seeds are a spherical shape about 2 to 2.5 cm in diameter, and when they get matured they are split to sprout out 2 to 3 of brownish-red seeds.

●Height about 5 to 15m
●Place Trail 1 to 3, Jyataki
※Quotation from Mount Takao formula application
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