Once again this year, the Lupine flowers are blooming beautifully. In Japanese, they are called ‘Noborifuji’ (climbing wisteria) or ‘Tachifuji” (standing wisteria), which refers to their resemblance to wisteria flowers blooming from bottom to top. Indeed, if you turn the photo upside down, they look just like wisteria flowers. However, unlike wisteria, Lupine flowers come in a wide variety of colors, such as red, pink, purple, and yellow. Originally native to North and South America, they are said to be distributed in over 200 species worldwide. I remember there was a restaurant called ‘Rupan’ somewhere, and I thought that it was named after the famous fictional thief Arsène Lupin from the globally renowned detective novel ‘Arsène Lupin, but instead of that, I once heard from the owner that Lupine is called “Rupan” in French. Speaking of which, in the novel, Phantom Thief Lupine is depicted planting Lupine flowers in his garden during his later years. Nowadays, if you mention Lupin, most young people would probably think of the anime character Lupin III. By the way, the English name is ‘Lupin,’ spelled the same as in French.

今年も見事にルピナスの花が咲いています。和名は、花がフジに似て下から上に咲いていく様から、昇藤(ノボリフジ)、あるいは立藤(タチフジ)と付けられています。なるほど、写真を逆さまにして見たら藤の花そっくりです。ただ藤と違ってルピナスの花色は、赤やピンク、紫、黄色などとバリエーションが豊富です。もともとは南北アメリカ原産で、世界中に200種類以上分布しているそうです。どこだったか「ルパン」と言うレストランがあって、あの世界的に有名な推理小説『アルセーヌ・ルパン』の怪盗ルパンから名を取ったのかと思ったら、フランス語でルピナスはルパンと言うんだと店の主人から聞いたことがありまます。そう言えば、小説では、ルパンは晩年に庭にルピナスを植えていたと場面があります。今の子はルパンと言えば、アニメのルパン三世のことだと思うでしょうね。ちなみに英名はLupinでフランス語と同じ綴りです。