THE ECONOMIC PLANTS OF JAPAN. 



13 



already well known in America, it needs no specific de- 

 scription here. The natives use the fruit sometimes, 

 but no effort is made to cultivate it for that purpose. 

 It is, however, grown for ornament, as with us. They 

 have several varieties, the typical one having large, 

 bright red flowers ; another has white flowers, and still 

 others have flesh colored or nearly orange colored flow- 

 ers. The plant is also occasionally used for hedges, for 

 which it seems well suited, forming a thick growth of 

 stiff, thorny branches, some four to six feet in height. 

 It is claimed that the fruit is equal to the quince for 

 culinary purposes. 



A smaller kind, closely related to the foregoing, is the 

 \^x. pyginaa, Max. ; Jap., Kusa-Boke. This is an exceed- 



are oval or obovate, dark green, stiff, the edges turning 

 up ; margin sharply serrate. 



The flowers are pink or rose colored, large, sweet- 

 scented, appearing after the leaves ; stamens five, united 

 to the base ; the stigma is broad, three-lobed. The fruit 

 is large, varying much in size. Four inches in longest 

 diameter is an average-sized fruit, but it is often as large 

 as two clinched fists ; oval or sometimes rounded in out- 

 line, often unequal, both basin and cavity usually shal- 

 low ; color a greenish yellow, skin rough and slightly 

 tomentose. Flesh hard, sour and astringent, not edible 

 till cooked ; core large, open, with numerous gelatinous 

 seeds packed closely in a double row in each cell. Fifty 

 to seventy-five seeds are common in a sound fruit. l' 



Fig. 6. Japanese Pear, Akatsupo or Akato. (See page 10 



ingly dwarf, woody, thorny plant, only three inches to 

 one foot tall, which is very abundant on the plains of 

 central Japan. In early spring it dots the landscape 

 everywhere with its pretty red flowers, shining like bright 

 eyes from the green grass. It has a small fruit resem- 

 bling that of the larger form and is also occasionally 

 utilized, but not cultivated. 



Pyrus Chinensis, Poir. Jap., Karin. The Japanese 

 or Chinese Quince. It is an introduced fruit which, 

 however, is known and sparingly cultivated all over the 

 country. The tree attains a height of from thirty to 

 forty feet, has a close, upright, bushy growth, but with- 

 out thorns. The bark is gray, close and smooth, scaling 

 off in patches, somewhat like the sycamore. The leaves 



has the same qualities as the quince in an intensified 

 degree, and makes a beautiful jelly ; but the skin must 

 not be used in cooking, as in the case of the quince, it 

 being too astringent. It is used by the Japanese chiefly 

 as a domestic remedy for coughs, for which it is said to 

 be an efficient remedy. It has many qualities which 

 recommend it for culture. The large fruit, the size and 

 vigor of the tree, its hardiness and easy culture would 

 render it a formidable rival of the quince in America, 

 and undoubtedly the austere nature of the fruit would 

 be ameliorated by careful culture. At any rate it would 

 be well worth experimenting with, to ascertain if it is 

 amenable to improvement. Although planted by the 

 Japanese, the tree receives but little care, and is virtually 



