Page 18 - Растения Сахалинской области в легендах и мифах

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Ilex crenata or Japanese holly

(Ilex crenata Thunb.)

Winter-green, strongly branching
shrub with grayish bark up to 1 m
high. Leaves are simple, whole,
dark green, shiny, glabrous, leathery,
oblong-lanceolate or obovate, up to 4
cm long and 2 cm wide. The flowers
are white, small, dioecious, in the
leaf axils on the shoots of the current
year. The fruit is spherical, fleshy,
black drupe, 6–8 mm in diameter.
It is common on the southern Kuril Islands (Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan) and Moneron
Island. Occasionally found in the southern half of Sakhalin Island (Tomarinsky, Makarovsky,
Dolinsky, Kholmsky, Korsakovsky, Anivsky and Nevelsky districts), rarely on Urup Island.
The main part of the range is in China, Japan and the Korean Peninsula.

Ilex sugerokii

(Ilex sugerokii Maxim.)

Winter-green shrub up to 3 meters
high, with reddish-brown bark. Leaves
are simple, whole, up to 3.5 cm long
and 2 cm wide, often yellowish-green,
leathery, smooth above, shiny, glabrous,
pubescent below along the midrib.
Flowers are dioecious: pistillate - single,
staminate — 1–3, in leaf axils. Fruits are
dark red, fleshy, globular drupes 7–8 mm
in diameter.
Occurs in the southern Kuril Islands
(Iturup, Kunashir) and in the south of
Sakhalin Island (Korsakovsky district,
Cape Trudny). Outside of Russia, it is
common in Japan.

Every year there is a battle between two brothers, two eternal rivals, the Tree
Kings. And together they are one entity — the Horned God. They fight to decide who
will rule for the next half of the year. In Yule (mid-winter), the Golden Oak King wins.
And on Lita (summer solstice) he is struck by the Dark King Holly. But they do not
perish, but only weaken for six months, in order to then re-enter the fight.

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