Small white flowers were about to set tiny fruit. Just south of Palaceside Building, west of "Midori no Izumi" (the Green Spring) in the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, grows land gonzui (Euscaphis japonica). In autumn, red husks hold black seeds, a vivid contrast of red and black.
The name "gonzui" may startle people who fish at sea. The fish of that name has a slim, catfish-like body, whiskers, and a poisonous spine on its dorsal fin. Touch it carelessly and the sting can make you writhe in pain — and the tree shares the same name.
Land gonzui has neither thorns nor poison. Far from being toxic, in China the flowers are said to ease pain and headaches, and the roots to still chills and suppress inflammation — it is valued as medicine. In Japan, however, sap gushes when branches are cut in early spring, and the wood is brittle and useless, so one theory says it was named after the equally "useless" fish. A rather unfortunate name for the tree.
The scientific name is Euscaphis japonica — another plant with "japonica." Euscaphis is said to mean "good small boat" in Greek; perhaps gonzui would rather be called by its scientific name than its common one.