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perfect, 1314 mm long; distinctly longer than the longest stamens. The calyx is broad and funnel-shaped, 6 Ă— 4 mm; there is a distinct transition from pedicel to calyx. Sepals are elongated to elongated-triangular, 1011 Ă— 46 mm, with a faint purple tinge, usually with a few teeth, and occasionally with 14 accessory sepals. Flowering season is from late April to early May. 'Ukon' has a diploid set of chromosomes (2n = 16). Asagi (''shallow-yellow") is a strain of 'Ukon' with lighter flowers. They are "greenish yellow slightly tinged with pink, and single" in a Japanese export nursery catalog of 1937 (Wada 1937). Ingram (1948) added that the cream-tinged flowers of 'Asagi' are of a better shape than those of 'Ukon' and nearly single. 'Asagi' flowers earlier than 'Ukon', but makes a less vigorous, less handsome tree. Sano IV (1961) counted eight to twelve petals per flower. Today 'Asagi' is rarely cultivated in Japan, and it must be rare or extinct in Western countries as well. Gyoiko, spelled "Gioiko" in an older romanization, has flowers that are unusual for their colors: green, white, and pink. The name translates as
Figure 181 From a distance the green blossom of 'Gyoiko' hardly shows among the green foliage. Photo by Arie Peterse, 1 May 1996, Ninna-ji, Kyoto *.