JUJUBE OF ECONOMIC PLANTS. 229 



for use in soups, and is eaten on fast-days. Tn 1878 no less 

 than 838 tons of this fungus were conveyed to China, the value 

 of which is estimated to amount to about £50,000. 



Jew's Mallow {CorcJwrus olitorius), an annual of the Lime 

 Tree family (Tiliaceae), similar in habit to the jute plant, and 

 like it cultivated in India for its fibre. It is also common in 

 Syria and Egypt, where its young sprouts are eaten as a vege- 

 table, like asparagus. It is said to be a favourite with tlie Jews, 

 and hence the name Jew's Mallow. It lias, however, no re- 

 lation to the genus Malva. (See Mallows.) 



Job's Tears (Coix laclwyma), an annual grass, a foot or 

 more in height, native of India. The flowers are few, produced 

 in loose panicles, becoming pendulous with the weight of the 

 seeds, which are oblong globose, about the size of peas, hard and 

 pearly ; they are not only used as beads, but are made into little 

 caskets and such like ornamental articles. 



John Crow's Nose, a name in Jamaica for Pliyllocoryne 

 jamaicensis, a curious fungoid-looking plant of the family Bal- 

 anophoracese, native of Jamaica. It has a lobed root-stock, from 

 which rise the flower-stalks, which are about the thickness of 

 the finger and 3 to 6 inches in length, covered with leafy scales, 

 terminated by an oblong head of inconspicuous flowers, l^o 

 virtue is ascribed to it. 



Judas Tree (Cercis Siliquastriwi), a stiff-branched tree, 

 20 to 30 feet high, of the Bean family (Leguminosfe), with 

 simple deciduous leaves and papilionaceous pink flowers, which 

 are sessile, produced on the old wood and branches of the tree 

 before the leaves appear, giving the tree a remarkable appear- 

 ance. It is common throughout Southern Europe and Western 

 Asia and Japan. The wood is hard, blotchy, and waved, and 

 takes a fine polish. It has been long known by the name of 

 Judas Tree, it being supposed to have been the tree on which 

 Judas hanged himself ; but there is no historical evidence to 

 show that Judas hanged himself on a tree. St. Matthew simply 

 says, " He went out and hanged himself." 



Jujube, the name of the fruits of Zizyplms vulgaris, Z. 



