Magnolia kobus

Kobushi, 辛夷, Magnolia kobus.

Wild magnolia which grows to big tree. "辛夷" in China is different, mainly means cultivated common magnolia. Kobusi means a "fist", by that the fruit resembles human fist, another hypothesis is not fruit but winter bud.

This species is very much common throughout country side in cool temperate zone. One of the reason is as agricultural plant index, when this flowers they generally sown rice seeds.

There is a Japanese pop song, popular in Asian countries' Karaoke, titled "Kitaguni no Haru", 北国の春, "我和你"(ch), which means "The spring in north land". In the second line of this song, it says "the hill where Kobushi is in blossom", such as popular symbol of country side.

Tukuba, Ibaraki, Japan, Mar2007
NikonD70s/Nikkor18-200