''Erythronium japonicum'', known as Asian fawn lily, Oriental fawn lily, Japanese fawn lily is a pink-flowered species trout lily, belonging to the Lily family and native to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

, the

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(

Sakhalin Island Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, p=səxɐˈlʲin) is an island in Northeast Asia. Its north coast lies off the southeastern coast of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, while its southern tip lies north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. An islan ...

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) and northeastern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(

Jilin ) , image_skyline = Changbaishan Tianchi from western rim.jpg , image_alt = , image_caption = View of Heaven Lake , image_map = Jilin in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_al ...

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).Flora of China v 24 p 126
/ref> It is a spring ephemeral, blooming April–June in woodlands. It is known as ''zhūyáhuā'' () in Chinese, ''eolleji'' () in Korean, and ''katakuri'' () in Japanese. ''Erythronium japonicum'' has a stem up to long, although as much as 30% of the stem may be underground. Bulb is elongated, up to long but rarely more than . Leaves are broadly elliptical to lanceolate, the blade up to long and wide. Flowers are solitary, rose-colored. Applying the generic common name ''trout lily'' may be somewhat of a misnomer, because in the Japanese species, the individual plant may or may not exhibit the flecked dark markings on the leaves, which is emblematic of that common name (see gallery below).

Protective status

Reporting is mixed on whether it should be regarded as endangered in Japan. One source adds it to a list of wildflowers that should be included as endangered, but the so-called or environmental specialist certification, run by the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TCCI), has had an exam question in the past, where the correct answer to "Is katakuri endangered" was "no". The Japanese ministry ( MOE)'s version of the ''Red Data Book'' has not handed down an assessment of the whole species,. yellow=''jun-zetsumetsu kigu shu''(NT); orange=絶滅危惧IB (VU); mauve=絶滅危惧I (EN/CR). See :ja:template:生物分類表 even though in the ''Red Data Book'' compiled by individual prefectures, its status is evaluated at "near threatened" (''jun-zetsumetsu kigu shu'') in Hyōgo and Mie, and rated vulnerable-endangered in

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

and southern Kanto. This woodland plant is more vulnerable, since it has a very short season and is slow-growing. It needs to grow into a 7–8 year old plant before it finally blooms, so will not rebound in numbers once taken. In Niiharu ( Midori-ku, Yokohama), the colony was entirely wiped out (poached) overnight shortly after media coverage about it blooming in the area. A colony in Tokyo can be viewed at , in Nerima-ku. Nearby, the

Tomitaro Makino was a pioneer Japanese botanist noted for his taxonomic work. He has been called "Father of Japanese Botany", having been one of the first Japanese botanists to work extensively on classifying Japanese plants using the system developed by Carl ...

Memorial Garden also has a small number of plants planted.

Uses

The , is a

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diet ...

that bears the name of this plant, which originally refers to the starch from the ''E. japonicum'' bulb. Because of its small quantity, this starch is no longer common;

potato starch Potato starch is starch extracted from potatoes. The cells of the root tubers of the potato plant contain leucoplasts (starch grains). To extract the starch, the potatoes are crushed, and the starch grains are released from the destroyed cells. Th ...

has taken its place and name nowadays. This plant is not known to be farmed, and has been harvested from wild colonies by poachers, but probably not by seekers of starch sources, but by wildflower enthusiasts or traffickers. The plant powder was also used as ointment to treat rashes. The rumor that it is used in

wagashi is traditional Japanese confectionery, typically made using plant-based ingredients and with an emphasis on seasonality. ''Wagashi'' generally makes use of cooking methods that pre-date Western influence in Japan. It is often served with green ...

, particularly in the confection called ''katakuri-rakugan'' is apocryphal, since historian states that this confection, which used to be traditionally presented to Morioka Domain, was made from the starch of lily bulbs. 「藩の献上菓子たる片栗落雁(百合根からとった殿粉によって製した菓子)とともに有名な献上品である。」

Additional photos

Image:Erythronium japonicum 2006 001.jpg Image:Erythronium japonicum 2006 007.jpg Image:Erythronium japonicum 2006 009.jpg
line drawing of ''Erythronium japonicum'', Flora of China Illustrations vol. 24, fig. 109, 5-7

References

* , p. 149-150 * {{Authority control japonicum Flora of Japan Flora of Korea Flora of China Flora of Russia Flora of Liaoning Flora of Jilin Japanese cuisine Root vegetables Plants described in 1854 Edible plants Garden plants Taxa named by Joseph Decaisne