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| ＜所在地 瑞穂町殿ケ谷1129番地 福正寺境内＞ | ＜Location: Inside Fukushoji Temple, 1129 Tonogaya, Mizuho-machi＞ |
| 樹 高 12m 目通り 83㎝ | Height: 12 m Circumference at eye level: 83 cm |
| 多羅葉はモチノキ科に属し、近畿以西、四国、九州の暖かい地方に生える常緑喬木(きょうぼく)。葉は互生し、革質で大きく、長楕円形。縁には鋸歯(きょし)がある。雌雄異株で、5月ごろに黄緑色4弁の花を葉腋(ようえき)に多数密に開く。果実は球形で、晩秋には赤く熟す。 | Tarayo trees belong to the holly family. They are an evergreen tree that usually grows in warm regions of Kinki and further west in Shikoku and Kyushu.The leaves alternate and are leathery, large, and oblong.The edges of the leaves have a saw-tooth pattern.They are dioecious and bloom profusely with four-petaled yellow flowers in May.Their fruits are spherical and ripen to a red color in late autumn. |
| この葉裏に先のとがった棒などで字を書くと、そこが黒変するので「字(じ)かきっ葉(ぱ)」などと呼ぶ。 | If you press on the back of the leaves with a sharp stick, it will blacken, allowing you to write on them. So, the plant is sometimes colloquially called "jikakippa," or "letter-writing leaf." |
| 多羅葉の名は、傷つけると黒くなる葉に経文を書いたというヤシ科の貝多羅(ばいたら)樹の葉(貝多羅葉)になぞらえたもの。 | Tarayo trees are named after baitara trees, a type of palm tree that also turns black when pressed with a sharp stick, and on which sutras were written. |
| ※数値は全て、初版が発行された1976年以前のデータである。 | * All figures are from the first edition, published in 1976 or earlier. |