182 WILSON EXPEDITION TO CHINA 



lands, alt. 1300-2500 m., July 1907 (No. 3314; tree 8 m. tall, girth 

 1 m.) ; Fang Hsien; woodlands, alt. 1600-2000 m., May 23, September 

 1907 (No. 259; tree 10-15 m. tall, girth 1-2 m.); without locality, 

 June and September (Veitch Exped. No. 994); without locality, A. 

 Henry (Nos. 5899, 5899% 6035% 314); " Ma-pan-scian " alt. 1000 m.. 

 May 1907, C. Silvestri (No. 3353). Western Szech'uan: west of 

 'Kuan Hsien, valley of Pan-lan-shan, wild and cultivated, alt. 2300- 

 2600 m., June 19, 1908 (No. 3315, in part; tree 5-10 m. tall, girth 

 0.6-1.5 m., flowers white); west and near Wen-ch'uan Hsien, alt. 

 2300-2600 m., July 1908 (No. 3315, in part; tree 6-15 m., girth 

 1-2 m.); Nan-ch'uan, A. von Rosthorn (No. 2283). Shensi : Tai-pei- 

 shan, 1910, W. Purdom. 



India : temperate Himalaya, alt. 1000-2000 m., Serahan to Tranda, 

 September 1874, T. Thomson (in Herb. Gray). 



This is the Chinese Lacquer-varnish tree and it is one of the most common 

 trees on the mountains of western Hupeh and eastern Szech'uan, being abundant 

 in the woods and thickets; it is also generally planted round the margins of fields. 

 In western Szech'uan it is much less abundant. The trees are from 15-20 m. tall, 

 with a trunk girth of from 1 to 2 m.; the bark is pale gray and smooth on 

 young trees, becoming dark gray, rough and irregularly fissured with age. The 

 habit is loosely pyramidal and the branches are more or less whorled. The sap-wood 

 is white and the heart-wood yellow; the wood has no value except for fuel. The 

 leaves vary from 25-75 cm. in length and may be denselj^ pubescent on the un- 

 der side or virtually glabrous. The rhachis is equally variable in degree of pubes- 

 cence. The fruit is indehiscent, shining straw-yellow, from 5 to 8 mm. long and 

 broad; it is rich in fatty oil which is expressed and used by the peasants for 

 making candles and for adulterating Tung-oil, the product of the seeds of Aleurites 

 Fordii Hemsley.^ 



The Indian specimens are identical with the Chinese and it is curious that they 

 should have been considered as a variety of R. succedanea Linnaeus. The char- 

 acters on which Pampanini bases his variety are not constant and do not hold 

 good even on one of the specimens he cites. 



The vernacular name for this tree is " Che shu," the varnish is " Che " or 

 " Ch'i," and the oil from the fruit " Che-yu." 



Pictures of this tree will be found under Nos. 372, 505, 572 and 070 of the col- 

 lection of Wilson's photographs and also in his Vegetation of Western China, Nos. 

 450, 451 and 452. 



Rhus succedanea Linnaeus, Mant. 221 (1771).2 — Thunberg, Fl 

 Jap. 122 (1784). — De Candolle, Prodr. II. 68 (1825). — Wight, 

 Icon. II. t. 560 (1843). — Bentham, Fl. Hongk. 69 (1861). — Hooker 



1 For an account of the tapping of the trees for varnish see Wilson, A naturalist 

 in Western China, II. 68 (1913). 



2 First described and figured by Kaempfer as " Fasi no ki " {Amoen. Exot. 794, t. 

 [1712]). 



