32 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



to 6000 feet altitude, throughout Hupeh, and less so in western 

 Szechuan. The flattened-round red fruit is rough on the ex- 

 terior, very juicy, and of fair flavour. In the above region the 

 tree so named is Cornus kousa. In Yunnan the vernacular name 

 is applied to C. capitata, an allied species, but in south-eastern 

 China the " Yang-mei " is Myrica rubra, a relative of our 

 Sweet Gale, and belonging to a widely different family. 



A climber called " Yang-tao " in Hupeh and " Mao-erh-tao " 

 in Szechuan {Actinidia chinensis) is very abundant from 2500 to 

 6000 feet altitude. It produces excellent fruit of a roundish or 

 oval shape, i inch to 2\ inches long, with a thin, brown, often 

 hairy skin covering a luscious green flesh. This is an excellent 

 dessert fruit, and makes a fine preserve. In 1900 I had the plea- 

 sure of introducing this fruit to the foreign residents of Ichang, 

 with whom it found immediatefavour,andis now known through- 

 out the Yangtsze Valley as the " Ichang Gooseberry." I also 

 was privileged to introduce it into European cultivation, and it 

 fruited in England for the first time in 1911. This valuable 

 climber has, in addition to its edible fruit, ornamental foliage 

 and shoots, and large, fragrant flowers, white fading to buff- 

 yeUow. It is a good garden plant ; the only drawback is that 

 the flowers are polygamous, and it is necessary to secure the 

 hermaphrodite form to ensure fruit. Several other species of 

 Actinidia yield edible fruits of fair flavour, one of the best 

 being A. ruhricaulis, which is now in cultivation. 



The Chinese eat the white inner pulp of the pod-like, purple 

 fruits of several species of Holbcellia ; these plants known as 

 " Pa-yueh-cha " are stout climbers. The teat-like fruits of 

 several species of Elceagnus, known as " Yang-mu-nai-tzu," are 

 also eaten. These have a rather pleasant acid flavour, but are 

 usually astringent in character. The fleshy, thickened fruit- 

 stalks of Hovenia dulcis, called " Kuai-tsao," are eaten to annul 

 the effects of wine. 



Sweet Chestnut trees are abundant in the woods up to 7500 

 feet altitude, and excellent nuts, known as " Pan-li," are pro- 

 duced. Several species occur, one of the most common and 

 widely diffused being Castanea molUssima. As scrub on the 

 hiUs up to 3500 feet altitude, the Chinese Chinquapin, " Mao 

 Pan-li " (C. Seguinii), is very abundant. Bushes only 2 feet 



