Page 7 - Растения Сахалинской области в легендах и мифах

Aralia Elata or the Japanese angelica tree

(Aralia elata (Miq.) Seem)

Straight-stemmed mostly unbranched shrub with grey-brown bark covered with thick and
sharp triangular spikes, usually reaches 3 m in height. Leaves are approximately 8 cm long
and 7-8 cm wide on sreen spiked petioles. Inflorescence is in a shape of umbel up to 5 cm in
diameter. Flowers are small, yellow-white. Fruits are dark-blue globular berries up to 6 mm
in diameter.In Sakhalin Region it is only spread around southern quarter of Sakhalin Island
(Tomari, Dolinsk, Kholmsk, Korsakov, Aniva, Nevelsk areas and around Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
city) and some of the South Kuril Islands: Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan. In Russia its habitat
is known to be in Primorskiy and Khabarovskiy Regions, as well as Jewish Autonomous
Region. Outside of Russian Federation it can be found in North-Eastern China, Japan and on
Korean Peninsula.

Once upon a time the devil got severe toothache. It was so painful that he was
absolutely enraged, but then he learnt there was a beautiful healer living in the
woods. So the devil decided to kidnap the girl: have her as a healer and a wife. He
was just crossing the forest, when the trees closed their branches and trunks so that
he wouldn’t find her. The devil got really angry trying to break through the dense
forest, but the new trees kept appearing, blocking his way. Desperate, he decided to

chew through the branches of warrior-trees, but this didn’t work either. Biting the tree
trunks, the devil lost all his teeth, which were now stuck inside the thick wood. The
devil didn’t have any choice, but to leave the girl and the forest alone.

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