This flower is beautiful, but I was attracted to its name, “Yugiri-so”, not its flower. If translated in English, it would be “Evening mist flower”. At first I thought that it might be related to the “Yugiri” that appears in the Tale of Genji, but Yugiri is a male because he is the son of Genji. So there is no connection between Yugiri-so and Yugiri. It is a flower with a diameter of about 20 cm that forms a dome with a collection of innumerable bluish-purple flowers of about 2 mm. When in full bloom, a long white pistil protrudes from the center, which looks like a mist to some people. It seems this is the origin of the name of this flower, and it must have been given by one sensitive person, not the name that was unknowingly given like many other flowers. Even so, it is a beautiful and elegant flower as the name implies.

花も美しいのですが、夕霧草という名前に惹かれました。英語で直訳で綴れば「Evening mist flower」です。最初は源氏物語に出てくる「夕霧」と関係があるのかなと思ったのですが、「夕霧」は光源氏の息子だから男性です。この花との接点が見つかりません。青紫色の2㎜ほどの小花が無数に集まって直径約20センチの花をドーム状につける花ですが、満開になると、中心から長い白色の雌しべが突き出て、これが見様によっては霧のようにみえます。これがこの花の名前の由来で、他の多くの花のように知らず知らずのうちに付いた名前ではなく、誰か一人の感性豊かな人が命名したに違いありません。それにしても名前通り気品のある美しい花です。