256 AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY. 



Fam. Sterculiace^. 



129. Sterailia platanifolia, L. {Firmiana platanifolia, R. Br.), Jap. 

 Ao-giri, i.e. green Kiri. The light grey, spongy wood resembles 

 Kiri and is similarly employed. Its cross sections show distinct 

 year-rings, thinly sprinkled with pretty large pores, which increase 

 in number toward the edges of the rings. The pith-rays are clearly 

 marked by their white colour and are equi-distant from each other. 



Fam. Ternstroemiace.^. 



The evergreen bushes and trees of this family, Ternstroemia, 

 Cleyera, Eurya and Camellia, also the deciduous variety Stuartia, 

 furnish an extremely fine grained, finely porous, close, firm, hard, 

 and correspondingly heavy wood which, in all these qualities, re- 

 sembles the Yusu {pistyliiiin racemosicm). Like the latter, this 

 wood is used for combs and various turnery articles, including 

 seals and other things which demand firmness and a fine grain. 

 The woods of greater circumference belonging to the larger 

 species (Stuartia and Camellia) are used for bearer's poles, handles, 

 cylinders, and in wood-carving. 



130. Ternstroemia japonica, Thunb., Jap. Moku-koku (pronounced 

 Mokkoku). This is a good-sized bush found wild in Southern 

 Japan, but much cultivated in gardens and temple groves. In the 

 latter it plays the same part as the species which follows. Because 

 of its sacred character and the similarity of its bright chocolate- 

 coloured wood to that of the Yusu {Distylitim), the bush is also 

 called Bukku-yusu, i.e. the Yusu dedicated to the gods. 



131. Cleyera japonica, Thunb., Jap. Saka-ki ; a fine, evergreen 

 shrub growing wild, like the foregoing, in the warmer parts of 

 Japan. It is a favourite ornamental bush for gardens and temple 

 groves, and is a sacred plant in Shinto, the worship of ancestors, 

 like the Lotus flower and lllicium religiosiim, S. and Z., in Buddhism. 

 In certain celebrated temples, e.g., the Kompira near Kotohira in 

 Sanuki, numerous articles made from the wood are offered for sale ; 

 carvings and chop-sticks (Hashi), called Sakaki-no-hashi, as olive- 

 wood trinkets are sold in the holy places of Palestine. 



132. Eurya japonica^Thnnh.j Jap. Shira-ki and Mi-sasa-gi. This 

 bush, found widely scattered through the monsoon district of 

 South-eastern Asia, grows only three or four meters high. Its 

 leaves are very like those of the tea-plant. It is often found as 

 under-brush in the woods of Southern Japan, but more often in 

 the thickets of wooded mountain-slopes. 



133. Camellia japonica, Lin., Jap. Tsubaki (see also pp. 152, 

 153). The CameUia is everywhere indigenous in Southern Japan. 

 It grows to a good-sized tree in the mountain forests of Kiushiu 

 and Shikoku, often at an elevation of 800 m. above the sea ; it ex- 

 tends into the deciduous forests, where it is distinguished for .size 



