72 AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY. 



the water-melon was grown more than 3,500 years ago, as was 

 proved by the tomb-discoveries of Brugsch and Maspero in 1881. 



17. Cucumis conomoUy Thunb., Jap. Shiro-uri, white melon. One 

 frequently meets with the rather large oval fruit of this species, 

 greenish white in colour. It is commonly pickled and eaten as a 

 vegetable with rice, instead of Daikon. 



18. C.flexuosus^ L., Jap. Awo-uri, green melon. 



19. C. melo, L., the melon, Jap. Makuwa-uri (Cucumis melo, L.). 

 A large, strong-branched variety, some seeds of which were taken 

 to France in 1877, where it has been grown since. Its large, 

 cylindrical, thin-rinded fruit attains a length of 15 cm. and a thick- 

 ness of 7*9 cm. Its greyish-green flesh is thick, fine, and of a sweet, 

 agreeable flavour, though with little aroma. 



20. Cucumis sativus, L., the cucumber, Jap. Ki-uri, was, at some 

 time or other, introduced from China. 



Besides these, the fruits of the wild-growing Momordica char" 

 antia, L. are used, under the name of Tsuru-reishi and Niza-uri. 



(A) The following species are grown for the sake of the rind or 

 the tissue of their fruits. 



21. Luffa petola, Ser., Jap. Hechima, T6-guwa. The long 

 cylindric fruit resembles a long straight cucumber. When ripe, 

 it is yellowish. In the green state it is eaten ; but when ripe the 

 pulp disappears and is replaced by a web of fibres, furnishing the 

 so-called Lufla-sponge. 



22. Lagenaria vulgaris^ Ser. [Cucurbita /argenaria, L.), Jap. 

 Fukube and Higotan, furnishes in its many-shaped shells cheap, 

 popular vessels for daily use, not only in Japan, but in the whole 

 monsoon-region and in Africa. In other lands these are often called 

 calabashes by Europeans, a name which is also applied to the fruit 

 of the melon-tree {^Crescentia cujete), whose hard shells are converted 

 into many sorts of vessels, such as buckets, bowls, spoons, etc., by 

 the aborigines of tropical America. The pear-shaped outline of 

 the flask-melon has served in Japan and China as a model, often 

 used for Sake-bottles. So have those which appear to be made 

 of two large balls set one on^ top of the other. Lagenaria 

 dasystemon, Miq., Jap. Kamo-uri, is similarly utilized. 



{c) For making starch, the Japanese use, to a modest extent, 

 the seeds of several wild-growing varieties of the species Trichos- 

 anthes, — Karasu-uri (Z". cucumeroideSy Ser.) and Ki-karasu-uri (7". 

 japonica, Kegel). 



23. Apium graveolens, L., celery. Its Jap. name Oranda-mitsuba, 

 Dutch trefoil, indicates perhaps that it was first introduced into 

 De-shima by the Dutch. 



24. Petroselium sativum, Hoffm. (Apium petroselium, L.), parsley, 

 seems also to have been first introduced by the Dutch. 



25. Pimpinella anisum, L., Jap. Uikiyo, anise. 



26. Fceuiculum vulgare, Gaertn., Jap. Kurenomo and Uikiyo, 

 fennel. 



