Rohdea
Encyclopedia
Rohdea japonica, the sole species in the genus Rohdea, is a flowering plant
, native to eastern Asia
from southwestern China
to Japan
. Common names include Nippon Lily, Sacred Lily, and Japanese Sacred Lily; synonyms include Orontium japonicum, Rohdea esquirolii, and Rohdea sinensis. In the APG III classification system
, it is placed in the family
Asparagaceae
, subfamily Nolinoideae (formerly the family Ruscaceae). It has also been placed in the former family Convallariaceae.
It is a rhizomatous
herbaceous
perennial plant
, with fibrous roots. The leaves
are evergreen
, broad lanceolate, 15-50 cm long and 2.5-7 cm broad, with an acute apex. The flower
s are produced in a short, stout, dense spike 3-4 cm long, each flower pale yellowish, 4-5 mm long. The fruit
is a red berry
8 mm diameter, produced in a tight cluster of several together.
Although sometimes misspelled as Rhodea, the genus was actually named after Michael Rohde
(1782-1812), a botanist from Bremen
.
it is called wan nian qing (simplified: 万年青; traditional: 萬年青; lit. "evergreen"), and in Japanese
it is called omoto.
The plant is also used in traditional Chinese medicine
, though it is generally regarded as inedible and possibly toxic.
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
, native to eastern Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
from southwestern China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Common names include Nippon Lily, Sacred Lily, and Japanese Sacred Lily; synonyms include Orontium japonicum, Rohdea esquirolii, and Rohdea sinensis. In the APG III classification system
APG III system
The APG III system of flowering plant classification is the third version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy...
, it is placed in the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Asparagaceae
Asparagaceae
Asparagaceae is the botanical name of a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots.In earlier classification systems, the species involved were often treated as belonging to the family Liliaceae...
, subfamily Nolinoideae (formerly the family Ruscaceae). It has also been placed in the former family Convallariaceae.
It is a rhizomatous
Rhizome
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome is a characteristically horizontal stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes...
herbaceous
Herbaceous
A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...
perennial plant
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
, with fibrous roots. The leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
are evergreen
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
, broad lanceolate, 15-50 cm long and 2.5-7 cm broad, with an acute apex. The flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s are produced in a short, stout, dense spike 3-4 cm long, each flower pale yellowish, 4-5 mm long. The fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
is a red berry
Berry
The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes are an example. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels with a thin covering and fleshy interiors....
8 mm diameter, produced in a tight cluster of several together.
Although sometimes misspelled as Rhodea, the genus was actually named after Michael Rohde
Michael Rohde (botanist)
Michael Rohde is a German botanist. He was born on 25 July 1782 in Bremen, and died there on 28 May 1812.The plant genus Rohdea is named after Michael Rohde.- Source :...
(1782-1812), a botanist from Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
.
Cultivation and uses
It is cultivated as an ornamental plant. In ChineseChinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
it is called wan nian qing (simplified: 万年青; traditional: 萬年青; lit. "evergreen"), and in Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
it is called omoto.
The plant is also used in traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine refers to a broad range of medicine practices sharing common theoretical concepts which have been developed in China and are based on a tradition of more than 2,000 years, including various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage , exercise , and dietary therapy...
, though it is generally regarded as inedible and possibly toxic.