Page 20 - Растения Сахалинской области в легендах и мифах

Once upon a time, a young lady fell in love with a serf shepherd from

a neighboring estate. Of course, marriage was impossible. However,
the girl’s father took pity on his daughter. He went to the master of that
serf and offered to buy the guy out so that his daughter would marry a
free man. But the master was jealous of true love, refused, and gave the
shepherd to recruits. In the place where the last time two loving hearts said
goodbye, bursting with bitter tears, flowers grew as a symbol of fidelity

and separation.

Japanese whitebark magnolia J

(Magnolia hypoleuca Siebold et Zucc.

(Syn. Magnolia obovata Thunb.)

Deciduous tree, 8–10 m tall, with very large, alternate, petioled leaves. The leaf blades
are simple, whole, green above, whitish below, up to 40 cm long and up to 20 cm wide,
have an obovate shape with a pointed apex and a wedge-shaped base. Flowers are apical
actinomorphic, single, goblet, creamy white, up to 25 cm in diameter, fragrant.
In Russia it occurs mainly in the southern part of Kunashir Island near the coast of the
Sea of Okhotsk, on the northeastern border of the range. Outside the Russian Federation, it
is distributed in Japan (Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, Ryukyu) and in China. Has a
wide culturing area.

It was a long, long time ago. After a long struggle with the Japanese,
a large Ainu tribe left Hokkaido, the last island of Esso, and moved to
the Kuril Islands. All forty large islands — from south to north — were

occupied by the Ainu, and on the southernmost and warmest — Kunashir
(Black Island), the nispa, the leader of the tribe, remained to live. His
name was Nasendus. He wanted to see the land of his ancestors, to be
closer to the enemy. He was preparing to fight, his fighters bent bows,

made arrows and bamboo points were thickly smeared with aconite
poison. Nispa Nasendus stood on the shore all the time, peering into
the blue volcanoes of his homeland, and the wind ruffled his fair-haired
beard. He was handsome, Polynesian blood flowed in him. He wore the

beak of a bird, because his family originated from the eagle.

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