THE ECONOMIC PLANTS OF JAPAN. 



7 



Helwingia Japonica, Dietr. {H. ruscijlora, Willd.; 

 Osiris Japonica, Thunb.); Jap., Hana-ikada . This shrub 

 belongs to the same family as the preceding. Its value 

 as food is not great, the leaves being used only occasion- 

 ally. The bush grows six to eight feet tall. It is wild 

 in the mountains, and I have seen it in abundance in the 

 pass at Usui Toge. It has a stiff and angular growth and 

 smooth green bark ; leaves partly scattered, partly op- 

 posite, with short petioles, blade ovate to oval pointed, 

 three inches long and two inches broad, margin 

 serrate. The bush is remarkable in that it bears 

 the fruit on the middle of the leaf. Fig. 3, page 8, 

 represents a leaf with a cluster of flowers attached 

 to the midrib. The small figure by the side is a 

 flower enlarged. The flower is small, greenish, 

 four-parted ; corolla wanting, pistiP four-cleft. 

 Fruit a small black berry. The young leaves are , 

 eaten as greens. j< 



EuRYALE FEROx, Salisbury ; Jap. , Oni-basii, 

 Midzu-buki. The seeds of this ornamental water- 

 plant are edible, and they are quite generally 

 gathered for food. The leaf is orbicular, peltate, 

 with a slit at the base ; dark-green with brown 

 nerves, and a little rough. Flower purplish ; 

 calyx and stem covered with stiff prickles. 



BoLTONiA Cantoniensis, Fran, and Sav. [Aster 

 Cantoniensis, Bl.; A. itidicus, Thunb.); Jap., Yo- 

 mena, Miya7na-yomena. In this we have a pretty 

 annual, wild everywhere in neglected places; 

 sparingly cultivated for greens. Seed is sown in 

 rows, thickly, early in spring. When some three 

 inches tall, the young plants are cut and boiled, 

 and served with shoyu and vinegar. Thus pre- 

 pared, the dish is called yomena-hidashi. They 

 are also served with a preparation in which the 

 soja bean forms the basis, being a kind of sauce 

 called inizo. The lower leaves on the plant are 

 cut, the upper ones entire. Left to itself it pro- 

 duces single bluish purple flowers with yellow 

 center, in the fall. Our picture of it (Fig. 4, 

 page 8) shows a flowering branch. 



BuPLEURUM falcatum, L. ; ]a.-p-,MisIiima-saigo. 

 A member of the parsley family. Like the' fore- 

 going, it is cultivated for greens, though not ex- 

 tensively, and in the same manner. The radical 

 leaves are cut while young, and made part cf 

 various dishes. This plant grows some three feet 

 high when left to itself, terminating in umbels of 

 small yellow flowers. A branch, reduced in size, is 

 shown in Fig. 5, on page 9. 



Gleditschia Japonica, Miq. ; Saikac/ii. A Jap- 



anese author, Ito Keisuke, in "Nippon Sanbutsushi, " 

 mentions that the young shoots of this tree are occasion- 

 ally used for greens. It has another use of no small 

 importance. The pods are used as a substitute for soap, 

 and in many villages they are generally found on sale 

 for that purpose. 



Hemerocallis FULVA, L. ; ]3i^.,Ya!>u-kanzc. A hand- 

 some plant of the lily family, which grows wild on grassy 



plains at the bases of the mountains. The stem reaches 

 some three or four feet, bearing large, bright red flow- 

 ers, which are edible. On the plains of Karuizawa, I 

 have seen men, women and children busily engaged in 

 collecting the flowers. Those not used at once were 

 spread on mats in the sun to dry for future use. In 

 certain districts of China, it is said, the tough fibers in 

 the leaves are used for the manufacture of cloth. 



Nuphar Japonicum, De C. (Nymp/uca lulea, Thunb. 1; 



Fig. 2. — Aralia cordata : Edible Root. 



Jap., Ka-LiHiJione. (Yellow Pond -lily.) Of economic 

 value only when its young shoots are used for salad. It 

 is grown in the ponds and basins commonly found in 

 Japanese gardens; but it is cultivated for ornament 

 rather than for the shoots, though it is occasionally 

 grown exclusively as a food-plant. 



CEnanthe stolonifera, De C. ( CEnanihe Javanica, 

 Miq.; Dasyloma S2ibhipinnatiini,W\i\.)\ Jap. , ^i?;/. This 

 umbelliferous water-plant, one of their best vegetables, 

 is indigenous, and runs wild in shallow streams and irri- 

 gating ditches. It is largely cultivated on rice land, and 



