#rosa multiflora

"A youkai who's alive?" "A kasha on the surface?" The kasha was surprised by Yuuka as much as Yuuka was surprised by the kasha. "Don't mind me, sis, there's just so many human and youkai corpses here on the surface.... and these rotten fruits right next to the cave too!" the kasha said as she collected many rose hips.

Yuuka thought of nothing but wanting to fight this sassy kasha, so when the cat went back to picking rotten rose hips, Yuuka tried to swing her umbrella at her.

The kasha turned around and greeted Yuuka who was about to swing her umbrella, "My friends call me Orin by the way, it's totes odd how there's so many corpses on the surface, y'know. There's even dead youkai...." Yuuka halted and Orin aimlessly wonders to herself, "Maybe there's a youkai out there who is rampaging around the surface! Attacking one too many humans.... Even attacking fellow youkai! If they're as powerful that they could cause such disaster like this, then maybe I should gather these up before I'm next!"

Yuuka lowers her stance and Orin takes a closer look at Yuuka then says, "Oh, you're still here? Do you want some of these deliciously rotten fruits, too?" Orin continues, "My mistress wanted me to collect fruits around the surface to celebrate some special day that's celebrated in the Outside World nowadays. She says it's supposed to be about sharing gifts to each other, so you can have them if you want, sis!" Orin hands Yuuka some of the rotten rose hips. "Of course, some of them we won't feast on. I was planning to gift some of them to my mistress so she will use the seeds for to grow some roses in our garden as a gift to her sister, too. She says roses are her sister's favorite flower!" Orin cheerily explained. "You have a garden?" Yuuka widened her eyes. Orin looks back at Yuuka and tells her, "Oh yes, we literally have a garden all the way in the underground. Maybe you should find shelter away from that youkai there and work in Chireiden! Although, you would still have to fight the oni in the city to get to our palace." Yuuka declined, "No thanks, I already got kicked out of a mansion I already owned in another cave somewhere else. I'll stick with my little garden on the surface." "It's like totally understandable, we only grow flowers that don't need too much sunlight. The ravens at our mansion are able to create a ball of light around the courtyard, but it's definitely not as good of a light as the actual sun." Orin said, "Anyways I should get going now, it was nice meeting you, sis. You should be careful about that youkai rampage on the surface," She walked away with her cart and moved onto another area with some fruits.

Yuuka looked at he rose hips that she received, and she had hardly paid attention to what the kasha had said to her. Other than the garden, something else that she said had interested Yuuka. Something about giving gifts? There's plenty of festivals like that that humans celebrate in the village, but youkai don't normally celebrate such things nor even give gifts to each other like that.

These are rose hips, they are the fruit of true roses, which is any flowering bush in the Rosa genus. This one in particular comes from Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora). Multiflora Roses are of course part of the rose family (Rosaceae) a family that includes many fruits that are enjoyed and used in cooking like apples, cherries, peaches raspberries, and strawberries. True roses are characterized by their sharp thorns and flowers often crossbred to have many different floral shapes. This species is a wild counterpart and ancestor to many cultivated roses and it is native to Japan and other regions of eastern Asia, but has become invasive elsewhere.

Like other fruits in the rose family such as raspberries, rose hips contain many antioxidants and are enjoyed for their high Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) contents. Although nutrient content slightly varies by species and cultivar, one tiny fresh rose hip can contain much more Vitamin C than an orange. Vitamin C is a water soluble (meaning that it is absorbed with water/hydration) produced endogenously by numerous plants and even mammals, but humans in particular have lost such an ability, so humans must consume foods with or take Vitamin C as needed. It has antioxidative effects and helps in the production and function of numerous types of white blood cells. Lack of Vitamin C can result in the historically fatal disease known as scurvy (Vitamin C deficiency), characterized by hair and tooth loss, weakened bones and tissue, internal bleeding and bruising easily. Many fruits and vegetables contain this vitamin, so it normally is not a problem to have a lack of Vitamin C.

Rose hips are found in many wild and cultivated Rosa species throughout the world, and they themselves have many poisonous lookalikes that bear fruit around a similar time. The ones shown here have already dried up and are not fresh. The way to tell the difference is the thorny stems, shape of the leaf and most importantly the flowers in spring. Rose hips usually bear fruit in later summer and fall. If you planted roses by yourself then it should be no surprise that when fall arrives they will grow these fruits once they are done flowering.

The flowers that bloom in spring and thorny stems of Multiflora roses themselves, however, also look similar to the flowers of Rubus (raspberry/bramble genus), another rose family bush. Although, the fruits of Rubus look much different than rose hips and usually bear fruit at an earlier time than rose hips. We will talk more about the flowers and other characteristics of Multiflora rose specifically at a later time.

Winter is a season where many plants have had their leaves shed and either die or become dormant. Winter is often seen as being the "first" season, but sometimes it's spring. Winter solstice is an astronomical phenomenon where one of the axes and hemisphere of the earth are tilted farther from the Sun and when this happens it is also known as the shortest day, with much less daylight and much more nighttime on the hemisphere that experiences this. The opposing axis and hemisphere experiences summer instead. As an example, in December winter will occur for the Northern Hemisphere while the Southern Hemisphere experiences summer. The later days slowly form back until it reaches an equal amount in spring or fall (equinox). This is the origin of the word "solstice," which also comes from the name Sol, the name of a sun god, and the sun is very important for plants. Winter solstice is also often seen as being the death and rebirth of various sun gods in many places.

There are some plants that bear fruit during the winter, but flowers are a rarity in this season until sometime later. What flowers could bloom in winter?