56 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



25080. Aleurites cordata (Thunb.) Muell. Arg. 



Japan wood oil. 



From Tokyo, Japan. Purchased from The Japan Seed and Plant Company 

 (Limited). Received at Seattle, Wash., February 8, 1909. Received at Wash- 

 ington, D. C, March 23, 1909. 



"This shipment of seeds was imported for acclimatization experiments and for the 

 extraction of oil to be used in chemical and physical analyses for comparison with 

 S. P. I. No. 25081. 



"In Japan this species is most commonly known under the names abura-giri and 

 yama-giri, meaning, respectively, oil-kiri and wild-kiri, kiri (giri) being the name for 

 Paulownia imperial!*, which ii greatly resembles hi its foliage. It is a tropical or 

 semitropical planl and grown only in the provinces to the south of Tokyo (36° lat.). 

 Ii is Eoundalso in Formosa, the coastal provinces of China as farinlandas CheMang, 

 the Isle of Hainan, and sparingly in farther India and Cochin China, being indigenous 

 probably to Japan and Formosa only. 



"The seeds are very small compared with those of the other species of Aleurites, 

 being aboul the size of large castor-oil seeds, which they very much resemble. The 

 oil expressed from them, which serves chiefly as a drying oil, is comparable to the 

 more abundanl t'ung oil of China ami to perilla oil, which is largely substituted for 

 it in Japan, as it can he more cheaply grown. In Japan, as in China, the wood oil is 

 grown on land not suited for general farming. " (IP. Fischer.) 



25081. Aleurites fordii Hemsl. China wood oil. 



From Hankow. China. Purchased through Eon. William Martin, consul-general. 



" This shipment of seeds was imported for the purpose of con I inning on a large scale 

 some experiments commenced Eour j ear- ago in the acclimal Lzal ion of i he tree which 

 produces the t'ung oil or < !hina wood oil of commerce. I >f i he it-w 1-year-old seedlings 

 distributed by mail throughout the Southern and Pacific States, those sent to the 

 Gulf have done so unusually well, growing so rapidly and some of them blossoming 

 and fruiting the second year from transplanting, that it was thought advisable, now 

 that the section climatically besl adapted to them has been discovered, to try larger 

 plantations, not only to find oul whether they would be a paying crop on cheap land 

 in the South, but to determine the best treatment necessary to make them a commer- 

 cial success. 



"The t'ung tree or t'ung-shu, from the seeds of which China wood oil is obtained, 

 is distributed widely throughout the provinces drained by the Yangtze, principally 

 up the river and south of it, extending into the peninsula. Its product should not 

 be confused with the true wood oil, or Gurjun balsam, which is an oleo-resin and which 

 is the exudation from the trunks of several species of Dipterocarpus of Indo-China. 

 The name "wood oil" for the Chinese product is really a misnomer and was applied 

 by foreigners on account of the universal use of the oil as a covering for woodwork. 

 To the Chinese the tree, seed, and oil are known, respectively, as t'ung-shu, t'ung-tze, 

 and Vung-yii, the word t'ung being applied also quite generally to several other trees 

 of similar aspect of foliage, such as the catalpa, Sterculia plantanifolia, and Paulownia 

 imperialis. The trees are more restricted to the thin, dry soils of the hilly regions, 

 where farming is un profitable and where also the Chinese claim that they bear larger 

 crops. They are propagated by seeds which sprout in a short time and are placed 

 where the trees are to stand permanently; also by hard-wood cuttings, which root 

 readily. The tree should be tried in this country, not only for its valuable seeds, 

 but as an ornament. It attains a height of from 20 to 40 feet, and its large, heart- 

 shaped leaves, smooth, green bark, and striking panicles of white flowers slightly 

 tinged with red, which appear with the leaves in the spring, make it a very desirable 

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