Discussion

Japanese Aralia (Fatsia japonica)

This week's painting subject is native to coastal areas and sheltered woodlands in Southern Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Besides Japanese aralia, some other common names for the plant are fatsia, paperplant, and false castor oil plant. It has several others.

Though the plant doesn't look very tall in this photo, it typically grows 5 to 8 feet tall, but can sometimes reach as high as 10 to 16 feet tall. It is an evergreen shrub with multiple persistent stems growing out of the ground.

The Japanese name for the plant is yatsude, which literally translates to eight fingers or eight hands based on the palmate lobes on its large leaves. In spite of its name, its leaves almost never have eight lobes. Most often, there are 7 or 9 lobes, but there can be as few as 5 lobes or as many as 11. One of the reasons the plant is popular in Japan is the odd number of lobes. Odd numbers are considered to be lucky or auspicious in Japan. Even numbers are the opposite.

The common name, paperplant, comes from the appearance of the leaves. They are large and leathery, have a matte, papery texture, and can look like stiff, green paper, especially when dried. They don't really have anything to do with paper.

There are several cultivars that have been produced that accounts for the different appearance of the leaves of some yatsude plants. Growing conditions can make a difference, too. Plants that get more sun tend to have leaves that are lighter in color.

Here are some Japanese aralia varieties.

Japanese aralia plants are perennials that live from 20 to 50 years. Older leaves lower down on the plant are sometimes shed after new growth appears in the spring. Flowering begins in the fall from September to November.

Once blossoms get started, they look like this at an early state.

The creamy-white blossom clusters are called umbels. In the photo above, the umbels that emerged first are at the top, while newer ones below, with the greenish-brownish color, are just emerging.

Here is a closer look at one of the umbels. It is loaded with individual buds. Some of them at the bottom are beginning to open.

This photo is a little further advanced. Eventually, the whole umbel will be bristling with stamens, those "spikes" coming out from the open buds.

Here is a close look at an individual flower. It has 5 small white petals and typically 5 pollen-bearing stamens. In some cases, there may be as many as 10 stamens. The orange globe at the center is an ovary. 

The blossoms are self-pollinating, but insects can provide cross-pollination with other blossoms and plants. Cross-pollinated blossoms produce fruit more often than self-pollinated ones do. 

This is what a mostly fully emerged Japanese aralia blossom cluster looks like.

n the winter from December through February, the flowers fade and are replaced with berries which slowly ripen.

he berries are black when fully ripe.

Artwork

Nishimura Zofuku (Birth & Death Dates Unknown) 

Very little is known about Nishimura Zofuku other than that he was in the sixth generation of a group of lacquer artists that began in 1719 and continues today. He is best known for work done in the early 20th century. The Lacquer Ornamental Accessory Box shown below was made sometime in the 1912 to 1926 time period. The design on the box is a yatsude in bloom.