Japanese Crape Myrtle

炎天の地上花あり百日紅   　高浜虚子　(Takahama Kyoshi)

 Under the burning sun

 flower blooming on the earth
 Red Crape Myrtle aflame

Crape Myrtle like to be in full sunlight.  When I feel quite spent due to scorching sun,  I feel encouraged by its red flowers blooming vibrant against the blue sky in the long intense heat of summer.
 

at　馬見丘陵公園 /Umami Park, Kita-katsuragi Gun, Nara Prefecture

When Japanese think of a crape myrtle  (さるすべり), it would be mostly red or brilliant pink flowers, as It is written in Chinese Characters as 百日紅, literally means "red for one hundred days".  Large brilliant red flowers bloom over a long period from mid summer to fall, about 100 days. 

 

As shown by English name “Crape Myrtle”,  the flower look like “crape /crepe”, a thin crimped fabric made of cotton, silk, or wool.

pink with lavender in the back at New Public Hall, Nara Park

 

 

 

 Flower color of crape myrtle is not only red but also pink, lavender, and white.

Japanese Crape Myrtle tree attracts people with the foliage in autumn and stands  proudly exposing the shiny and smooth trunk in the cold of winter.   “さるすべり/sarusuberi” in Japanese literally means "monkeys slip".  Looks like even monkeys slip because of the smooth and slippery bark of the trunk. 

If you see textured bark, the bark is before shedding.  Its bark is supposed to shed/peel from the tree when reaching full maturity.  


at New Public Hall

 

Crape myrtle foliage is late to appear, in late spring, and shed leaves earlier than other deciduous trees.  For this reason, it is dubbed as  “怠け者の木　 lazy tree” in some region.

When the tree is shaken, the cascading clusters of flowers sway as if laughing, so it is also called “笑いの木　tree of laughing” or  “くすぐりの木　tree of tickling”.  

petals on the grass

Crape myrtle had been believed to be imported from China in the Edo period (1603-1868).  However, pollens were found at the bottom of the pond of Byodo-in (Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture, 11th century) last year. They are confirmed to be the ones before the construction when a villa of an aristocratic family existed there. 

information source: here