4th grader discovers rare bamboo blossoms in Japan's Wakayama Prefecture
HASHIMOTO, Wakayama -- A fourth grader discovered rarely seen bamboo blossoms in a mountainous area of this western Japan city in late July. Earlier t
In late July, a fourth grader named Jin Versluys made a remarkable discovery in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. While riding in a car with his family, Jin noticed that a section of a wooded area near his home had died. Intrigued, he got out of the car to investigate and found the blossoms of a rare bamboo species, hachiku, also known as Henon bamboo.
The discovery was reported to Jin's elementary school, and the school subsequently contacted the Mainichi Shimbun. A reporter visited the site and photographed the blossoms, which were then shown to Emi Okada, director of the Wakayama Prefecture Botanical Park Ryokka Center in Iwade. Okada confirmed that the blossoms were indeed hachiku, a very rare and valuable discovery.
Hachiku is a bamboo species that typically flowers at intervals of 60 to 120 years, after which the plants die. Jin had learned about this phenomenon at school and was amazed to discover it in his own backyard. Okada emphasized the importance of remaining curious and continuing to observe the bamboo.
The Minakata Kumagusu Museum in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, has documented the history of hachiku. In 1903, naturalist Minakata Kumagusu sent a flowering specimen of hachiku to botanist Tomitaro Makino. Flowering hachiku were discovered again in 2023 in an area associated with Minakata, marking a 120-year gap since Minakata's original discovery.
Written by urgent.news from The Mainichi's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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