Page 35 - Растения Сахалинской области в легендах и мифах

Two twin sisters lived in a village. They were so inseparable that
when one of them fell seriously ill, the other refused to leave her
sister and looked after her, not fearing to get infected. But a terrible

illness did not spare the sisters, and soon both died and were buried
together. And a bush covered with flowers grewon their grave. The
rest of the inhabitants tried a potion from the branches of that bush
and learned about the healing power of the plant.

Mimulus inflatus

(Mimulus inflatus (Miq.) Nakai) M

A bare annual plant with angular ascending or semi-recumbent stems
up to 35 cm long and a fibrous root. Leaves are simple, whole, thin,
ovoid or oval, up to 1.5 cm long and 0.8 cm wide. Flowers, 2–3 pairs
in axils of leaves, on pedicels up to 3 cm long. The fruit is a capsule,
oblong-ellipsoidal, enclosed in the remaining yellowish-green calyx.
In Russia it is found only on the southern Kuril Islands, where it
reaches the northern border of the range. It is known from a few localities
on Kunashir Island, outside Russia it is found in Japan.

The beloved monkey of one of the eastern rulers, while playing,
climbed a high mountain, but then fell from it and crashed to death. Its
owner was in such grief that the deity took pity on him and turned the
animal into a beautiful bright flower. Oddly enough, but this consoled

the grieving ruler, and he ordered to grow these flowers not only in his
garden, but throughout the state.

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