THE ECONOMIC PLi 



PLANTS USED FOR SALADS 



PIUM GRAVEOLENs, L. ; Jap. 

 0?'aiida ■ initsuba , Kiy omasa - niii ■ 

 iiu. (The common celery.) 

 It has been introduced in Ja- 

 pan and can be bought of the 

 green grocers, who cater for 



1 the foreign trade. Both the 



celeriac and the ordinary 

 Celery are found there, but they are grown only 

 for the foreigners ; the Japanese, apparently, have 

 no taste for them. The first name, Oranda-mitsuba, 

 means literally Holland (or Dutch) three-leaved 

 celery, and would indicate that it was first intro- 

 duced by the Dutch when they traded with the 

 country about three centuries ago. 



Artemisia vulgaris, L. {A. Indica, Willd.) ; Jap. 

 Yomogi. An extremely common weed, which grows 

 wild everywhere in southern and central Japan, along 

 roadsides and in waste places. In the north it is less 

 common. The young shoots are used as greens, being 

 gathered from the wild plants about the country when a 

 couple of inches high. The greens are first boiled, 

 then pounded in a wooden mortar till the mass forms a 

 paste. They are then added to steamed glutinous rice, 

 and the whole again beaten in the mortar till it becomes 

 homogeneous. It is now baked, forming small loaves 

 or csikes caWed yomogi-7nochi ; or fiitsu-niochi (inodiixz 

 the generic name for cake). These cakes have a slight 

 aroma and a pleasant taste. Sometimes the leaves are 

 used merely to color the cakes green without being 

 beaten up with the rice. For that purpose they are 

 first boiled, then pressed through a cloth, and the green 

 extract added. They are also dried, ground to a pow- 

 der, and then mixed with the rice. Green cakes and 

 confections are very common, and the coloring material 

 is obtained from this wild artemisia. 



These rice cakes [yovtogi-mochi] are always made for 

 use on the third day of March, which is set aside for 

 the amusement of the little girls, called dolls' feast-day. 

 Devout parents then present stacks of these cakes to 

 Hina-sama, the god who is supposed to have special 

 charge of the girls. The boys have a similar feast-day 

 on the fifth of May, called the Go-gatsu-Lekku (5th 

 month's holiday), when these cakes are eaten and pre- 

 sented to neighbors and friends. It is also customary 

 to hoist a flag on the boys' feast-day by every house in 

 which a boy has been born within the last year. These 

 flags, made in the shape of a river fish called the koi, a 

 sort of trout, usually remain hoisted for several days. 

 The koi fish is noted for the ease with which it jumps 



*Copyrighted by the Author. 



lNTS of JAPAN— X.* 



- V 



AND GREENS (CONTINUED). 



waterfalls and other obstacles in going up stream, and 

 therefore it is adopted as symbolical of the boy's career. 

 The custom is said to have been introduced from China, 

 where there is a legend to the effect that when a koi 

 succeeds in jumping the Riu-mon (Dragon's Gate) or 

 great falls of the Yellow river, it is changed into a 

 dragon, and becomes endowed with supernatural powers. 



This artemisia has another and not less important 

 use, as a medicine. It is used to cure rheumatism 

 and similar ailments by burning it on the skin. The 

 dried plant is made into little wads called niokkusa, 

 which are neatly put up in packages, and can be bought 

 in the stores. A fire-cure doctor will ignite pieces of 

 this viokktisa and place it on the ailing spot, where it 

 scorches and destroys the skin. This operation is re- 

 peated, usually seven times in the same place on seven 

 successive days. Jinrikisha coolies may be seen every 

 day who have whole rows of scars on their legs from 

 these burns. It is the standard remedy for rheuma- 

 tism, and the strangest thing of it is that it is said to 

 cure by those who have tried it. 



Artemisia Stelleriana, Bess., var. vesiculosa, 

 Fran, and Sav. ; Jap. S/nro-Voinogi, is another spe- 

 cies whose leaves are used for greens, but it is not com- 

 mon. It is a small spreading plant, with white leaves in 

 dense tufts on the ends of the short reclining branches. 



Asparagus officinalis. Our cultivated asparagus 

 has been introduced, and is grown at the open ports to 

 supply the demand of foreigners. As yet it has not 

 gained a foothold among the natives. The young 

 shoots and leaves of two ferns are used for greens. 

 They are : Aspidium falcatum, Sw. (Polypodium fal- 

 catuni, Thunb. ; Cyj-tomium falcatum, Presl.), Jap. Yabu- 

 sosetsu; and Osmonda regalis, L., var. typica, Fran, 

 and Sav.; Jap. (Royal Flowering Fern.) They 



are common in moist shaded places where they are 

 sought, but are not cultivated as vegetables, though 

 they may occasionally be found in some corner of the 

 garden as ornamental plants. 



Several species of the chenopodioceae furnish greens 

 and salads. The following are the more important : 



Salsola asparagoides, Miquoig {Scoberia ?Hariiima, 

 Mey., var. asparagoides, Fran, and Sav.; Suada mari- 

 tima, Dumort.) ; Jap. Matsuna. (Sea Elite.) The 

 young plants are gathered from the fields, and are also 

 cultivated ; the tops are used both boiled and chopped 

 fine as a salad. It is wild near the sea-coast and grows 

 seme three or four feet tall, much branched with ter- 

 nate leaves. 



Salsola Soda, L. ; Jap. Oka-hijiki, Mirti-na, is used 

 in the same way as the preceding, which it resembles ; 

 though it has a more spreading and branching habit, 

 and the leaves are stiffer and more pointed. 



