You never know what flowers will bloom.
Being a physicist sounds like such a serious*1 profession it's hard to believe that such people have time for other pursuits. But in the case of Nobel Prize physicist Shinichiro Tomonaga(1906-1979), he enjoyed nature in his own backyard. In an essay, he wrote how he attracted birds by setting up a bird table in his yard and clloected various seeds from their droppings*2ふん.
He planted the seeds in pots in early spring and waited until around the beginning of the rainy season for them to bud. At first, it was difficult to tell what they were but soon, they become distinguishable*3区別できる. Those around him told him it would be interesting if some of them turned out to be*4 plants that can be found only in the Himalayas, he wrote.
It is true that it would be fun if unexpected flowers bloom but not if they are illegal. Some of the seeds that organizers of an annual flower festival in Shimotsuma, Ibaraki Prefecture, plamted, thinking they were harmless corn poppies, turned out to be of the variety prohibited*5 under optium law. Last week, the festival site was covered with the illegal poppies. City officials and volunteers rushed to uproot them.
The opium poppies called atsumi-geshi in Japan contain narcotic*6麻薬の properties. Since there were hundreds of thousands of them, they could not be burned in a day and had to be watched overnight. The flowers originally come from North Africa. There is no way the seeds were carried by birds, but haw they got mixed up remains a mystery.
Perhaps because they are illegal, opium poppies appear somewhat ephemeral*7つかのまの、はかない. Poet Tatsuji Miyoshi (1900-1964) said they remained*8(remainded--of--+=人にーを思い出させる）him of paintings by the French painter Marie Laurencin (1883-1956). But contrary to*9 their appearance, they have virulent*毒性の強い power. The narcotic effects of opium produce a strong euphoria*陶酔感 but make users a wreck*12.
When Tomonaga planted the seeds he collected from bird droppings, all of them grew into plants that were commonly found in the neighborhood. Why did atsumi-geshi, which is supposedly uncommon legally speaking, bloom in such a large number? If the mystery remains unsolved*13, I'm curious*14 as to what will happen next year. (Herald Asashi May 21)
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He planted the seeds in pots in early spring and waited until around the beginning of the rainy season for them to bud. At first, it was difficult to tell what they were but soon, they become distinguishable*3区別できる. Those around him told him it would be interesting if some of them turned out to be*4 plants that can be found only in the Himalayas, he wrote.
It is true that it would be fun if unexpected flowers bloom but not if they are illegal. Some of the seeds that organizers of an annual flower festival in Shimotsuma, Ibaraki Prefecture, plamted, thinking they were harmless corn poppies, turned out to be of the variety prohibited*5 under optium law. Last week, the festival site was covered with the illegal poppies. City officials and volunteers rushed to uproot them.
The opium poppies called atsumi-geshi in Japan contain narcotic*6麻薬の properties. Since there were hundreds of thousands of them, they could not be burned in a day and had to be watched overnight. The flowers originally come from North Africa. There is no way the seeds were carried by birds, but haw they got mixed up remains a mystery.
Perhaps because they are illegal, opium poppies appear somewhat ephemeral*7つかのまの、はかない. Poet Tatsuji Miyoshi (1900-1964) said they remained*8(remainded--of--+=人にーを思い出させる）him of paintings by the French painter Marie Laurencin (1883-1956). But contrary to*9 their appearance, they have virulent*毒性の強い power. The narcotic effects of opium produce a strong euphoria*陶酔感 but make users a wreck*12.
When Tomonaga planted the seeds he collected from bird droppings, all of them grew into plants that were commonly found in the neighborhood. Why did atsumi-geshi, which is supposedly uncommon legally speaking, bloom in such a large number? If the mystery remains unsolved*13, I'm curious*14 as to what will happen next year. (Herald Asashi May 21)
