-4^ 



The Journal of Heredity 



1570 B. c, recorded in the hieroglyphics 

 of Eg^'pt and that of Chan Ch'ien, who 

 imported alfalfa and the grape into 

 China about the year 126 b. c. To 

 these early explorers the agents of our 

 own Office of Foreign Seed and Plant 

 Introduction are worthy successors. 



About twenty years ago relics of 

 an ancient shrine dedicated to Taji 

 Mamori were discovered in the village 

 of Kamo-mura, county of Kaiso, pro- 

 vince of Wakayama. Thanks to the 

 enthusiasm and piety of Toranosuke 

 Mayeyama, a citrus grower of the 

 village, a new shrine was built and 

 several stone monuments were erected 

 on the site of the ancient relics, and 

 recently the village council passed a 

 resolution to establish a new plant- 

 introduction garden and citrus experi- 

 mental orchard near by, in memory of 

 Tajima's expedition and to emphasize 

 his patriotic spirit to benefit his coun- 

 try through the introduction of desir- 

 able foreign plants. It is interesting 

 to see the development of such an 

 idea which had not before been thought 

 of great importance. 



Going back to another record of 

 introduction of a citrus fruit into 

 Japan, attention is called to an account 

 in the Shoku Nihongi, or Supplemen- 

 tary Chronicle, completed in the year 

 797 A. D. under the supervision of the 

 Emperor Kwanmu, stating that in 

 725 A. D. the Emperor Shomu bestowed 

 upon Harima no Otoe the Fifth lower 

 junior rank of the Imperial Court on 

 account of his successful importation 

 of citrus fruits from China and the 

 propagation of these plants in Japan. 

 The name of the orange alluded to was 

 written in Chinese Kan ts'u which 

 corresponds to the Kinokuni Mikan 

 now grown in many places. 



INTRODUCTION OF THE YUZU 



No record of the introduction of the 

 Yuzu has been discovered. This name 

 Yu tz'u in Chinese is now used exclu- 

 sively to designate shaddocks in south- 

 ern China and Formosa. It is not gen- 

 erally used in Chinese for the acid 

 citrus fruit so well known in Japan 

 under this name. In certain old works, 



however, like Shuo wen, the ancient 

 dictionary compiled by Hsu Shen in 

 the first century of the Christian era, 

 and the Poivuchi ("Record of remark- 

 able objects") written by Chang Hua, 

 who lived 232-300 A.D., there are 

 descriptions of the Yu tz'u growing in 

 China, which correspond to the orange 

 with acid pulp which bears this name 

 in Japan. The Yuzu plant is fairly 

 well illustrated in the Atlas of Shao 

 hsing pen ts'ao or the 1159 edition of 

 the famous Cheng Lei herbal, quite 

 lost in China but existing in manu- 

 script copies restored in Japan. In all 

 probability the name was applied to 

 the acid Yuzu orange introduced into 

 Japan from China and that the original 

 Chinese name Yit tz'u gradually became 

 obsolete in China itself. 



THE SWEET KUMQUAT 



Concern'ng the introduction into 

 Japan of the sour orange, shaddock, 

 sweet orange, Koji, of the tangerine 

 group called Beni Mikan in Japan, 

 and the common kumquat, we have no 

 record. In all probability they came 

 to our shores on board visiting mer- 

 chant vessels, as in the well-known case 

 of the large round kumquat now called 

 Fortunella crassifolia by Swingle. This 

 improved kumquat was accidentally 

 brought to us by a shipwrecked Chinese 

 sailor of Ningpo, cast ashore at Miho, 

 near the port of Shimidzu, Shidsuuoka- 

 ken, where he was rescued b}^ the na- 

 tives. A preserved kumquat, which 

 the shipwrecked man carried in his 

 pocket, yielded seeds which were 

 planted in a private yard, and which 

 proved to be a type of fruit tree quite 

 new to Japan. This happened during 

 the Meiwa period, that is, between 

 1764 and 1771, and the Japanese name 

 Meitva Kinkan, or Neiha Kinkan, was 

 accordingly applied to this variety. 

 The original parent of the Meiwa 

 kumquats of Japan is still growing in 

 the place where it was first planted. 



ORIGIN OF THE SATSUMA ORANGE A 

 MYSTERY 



The Satsuma orange, most important 

 of all Japanese citrus fruits, is called 



