THE ECONOMIC PLANTS OF JAPAN— V. 



269 



about four inches long, with a long, slender point ar- 

 ranged in two ranks on the shoots, and of a shining deep 

 green color. It is a very handsome tree, well worth the 

 attention of our nurserymen. It would probably be 

 hardy in all but the northernmost tier of states. For 

 hedges, young trees are planted a foot apart and trimmed 

 close on both sides, but allowed to run up by the addition 



has large ornamental leaves and yellow flowers. The 

 bark of this tree is also used as a black dye-stuff. 



The family Sapindaceae, to which the last described 

 tree belongs, contains another fruit tree of much impor- 

 tance in certain tropical and semi-tropical regions, and 

 which may, for convenience, be described among the 

 nuts. I refer to Nephelium Litchi, Camb. {Eupholia 



of a foot or more to the top each year for sev- 

 eral years. I have seen fine hedges of this oak 

 about twenty feet high. It keeps the lower 

 foliage well for some years, but when the hedge 

 finally becomes too naked below, another hedge of some 

 bushy plant is sometimes set just outside, but close up 

 against the oak hedge, the two thus making a tall and 

 impenetrable screen. 



.iEscULUSTURBiNATA, Blume. {ALsctilus Pavia,T\\VkXx\>.) 

 Jap., Tochi, Tochi-no-ki. This tree deserves also to be 

 classed among the nut trees of Japan, for though not 

 grown for the fruit, the nuts are gathered and used as an 

 article of food. Owing to their bitter taste they are 

 hulled and the kernels soaked in strong lye for several 

 days, the lye being changed occasionally. This treat- 

 ment removes the bitterness and renders them edible. 

 They are then boiled and prepared in many ways for 

 food. A common mode of preparation is to make them 

 into a paste with glutinous rice, which is then baked. 

 The tree is very ornamental, and deserves attention on 

 that account. It is a large forest tree, which may be 

 found in the mountain forests all over the country. It 



Fig. 5. Nephelium, or Litchi-nut. Natural Size. 



Litchi, Desf. ); Jap., Reishi. This tree is a native of 

 southern China and the Malay Archipelago, where it has 

 been cultivated for at least fifteen hundred years. It 

 has been brought from China to India, and likewise 

 introduced in the extreme south of Japan.* Only a lim- 



* The tree was introduced into soutliern Florida in 1886. — Ed. 



