AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES. 73 



27. Pastinaca sativa, L., Jap. Amerika bofu, parsnip. 



28. Coriandrum sativum, L., Jap. Koyendoro, coriander. All the 

 above-mentioned umbelliferous plants are cultivated also as drugs, 

 Their extent and significance for the Japanese kitchen are slight. 



29. Daucus carota, L., Jap. Ninjin (not to be confounded with 

 the like-sounding word for ginseng). The carrot, too, is one of 

 the commonest vegetables in Japan. But its cultivation and use 

 are by no means as extensive as with us. 



30. Aralia cordata, Thunb. {A. ediilis, S. and Z.), Jap. Udo, a 

 bush, about one meter high, which is found scattered over moun- 

 tains, and particularly on grassy slopes (Hara), blossoming in July. 

 It is also occasionally planted in the vicinity of dwellings. Its 

 roots, and its young stalks too, are eaten as a vegetable dish and 

 in soup, and people are very fond of them. 



31. Petasites japonicus, Miq. {Tnssilago Petasites,T\iMx\\i), Jap. 

 Fuki, grows wild under hedges, along roads and forest borders, 

 but is also cultivated. It blossoms in February and March. The 

 stalks of its leaves are eaten with vegetables. 



32. Lappa major, Gaertn. {Airtmm lappa, Thunb.), Jap. Gobo. 

 The common burdock exists in Japan just as with us, but has a 

 use of which we know nothing. Its long, fleshy tap-roots, as thick 

 as one's thumb, and with an average weight of 350 grs. are eaten 

 by the common people. Like the roots and bulbs of some other 

 composites, they contain inuline. 



33. Cichorium endivia, L., Jap. Kiku-jisa and Oranda-jisa. 



34. Lactiica sativa, L., Jap. Chisa, lettuce. Both of these are 

 cultivated and made into salad and other articles of food, but to a 

 much smaller extent than with us. Especially to the country 

 population they are almost altogether unknown. It is evident, 

 too, that they were first introduced by the Dutch. 



35. Solanum melongena, L. (5. esctilentiun, Dunal), Jap. Nasu 

 or Nasubi, the egg-plant, I'Aubergine in French. From June or 

 July, when its large violet blossoms appear, followed generally 

 by a wealth of beautiful similarly coloured fruit, this plant is 

 a real ornament of the dry Japanese fields. It is grown all 

 over the country and extends from there over the warmer lands of 

 Asia, quite to the Mediterranean-region.^ But the egg-plant is 

 raised in several countries of Africa and also in America. The 

 Japanese cut up the oval, club-shaped or pear-shaped fruit, boil 

 the pieces in soup or put them in brine and eat them as a salad 

 with rice, instead of radishes. In other countries, e.g. India, France, 

 North America, the fruit is cut through lengthwise, fried in butter, 

 and eaten, all but the outer rind, as a vegetable. An attenuated 

 form appears in the markets of Paris under the name I'aubergine 



^ In " Frau Baron von Gerstorfs Reise in Syrien von Aleppo nach el Deir am 

 Euphrat." Peterm. Mitth., 1865, p. 53, we read, for instance: "Wirkauften 

 noch einige Wassermelonen und Patlitdschan {^Solanwn melo7igena, L.), denn 

 hier waren ganze Felder damit bebaut." 



