Japanese Flowering Cherries by Wybe Kuitert (free)

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teeth with small, dark red glands up to the tip of the leaf. Stipules deeply bifurcated, 914 mm long. Corymbose inflorescence; but often also as an umbel on a rather long peduncle that has one flower halfway; three to five flowers per inflorescence, but usually 4. Peduncles 2.54.0 cm long. Pedicels 2.03.5 cm long. Flower in bud purplish pink, becoming a fairly saturated pink (RHS 75-C) that turns to a more violet hue (RHS 84-C) when completely opened. Flower 3.54.0 cm in diameter, opening loose and fluffy, with a rather distinct fragrance. Petals eleven to fourteen, occasionally with one to three petaloids, oval to orbicular, deeply emarginate at the top, 1719 × 1013 mm. There is one pistil, perfect, 1011 mm long; as long as the longest stamens. The calyx is campanulate, 78 × 3 mm, with a faint purple tinge; there is no distinct transition from pedicel to calyx. Sepals are elongated and triangular, 78 × 3.03.5 mm, with a faint purple tinge, unserrated. Flowering season is from late April to early May. 'Yokihi' is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese characters that form the name of Yang Kuei-fei (719756 A.D.), a historical woman of famed beauty at the Chinese imperial court. She was a beloved concubine of the emperor Hsüan Tsung (in power 713742) of the T'ang dynasty and became famous as through a poem, titled Zhang Henge (in Japanese, , 806), by the poet Bo Juyi (772846). This classic Chinese poem inspired much Japanese literature of later ages. is presented as an intelligent woman, excelling all other noblewomen in dance, music, verse, and song. In a period of turmoil she was killed by competitors who considered her too self-conceited. The cherry 'Yokihi' is often believed to have originated in Nara. For the Japanese, this city and its culture have a Chinese ring, as Nara was founded and constructed after Chinese city planning models in the early eighth century with help of Chinese artisans. However, 'Yokihi' is not found in any source earlier than the (Flower bed catalog) of 1681. It appears since then in lists of collections. Like 'Oshokun', 'Yokihi' echoes a historical Chinese idea of feminine beauty, and the two cultivars responded to aesthetic ideals associated with China. The blushing pink of the blossom of both (a little more intense with 'Oshokun' according to old descriptions) and the abundance of the


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