714 THE ECONOMIC PLANTS OF JAPAA 



The young leaves of this plant are used as greens, and 

 are said to be fine, and the fruit is packed in salt and 

 eaten with sake, and is also boiled. The plant is a 

 shrub, wild everywhere in the mountains, especially in 

 rich leaf mold and shady places. It grows some seven 

 or eight feet high. The fruit resembles the isiikiihane, 

 which is Japanese for battledore. From this fact the 

 plant derives its name. 



Chrysanthemum coronarium, L.; Jap. Shiiin-gikii, 

 Kiku-na, Miijinso. (Summer Chrysanthemum.) An 

 annual plant two feet tall, branching ; stem and leaves 

 rather thick and fleshy, the latter twice pinnately parted 

 and clasping the stem. The flower is a rather large 

 yellow or whitish ray flower, quite pretty, with purple 

 or brown center. The plant is cultivated as a vegetable 

 for the leaves, which are eaten as a salad with raw fish, 

 being first crushed to a pulp or finely cut. They have 

 a very pleasant spicy and slightly pungent taste. 



Chrysanthemum Indicum, L. ; Jap. Kiku. (Flower- 

 ing Chrysanthemum.) The flowers of several varieties 

 are used as vegetables. The most common one is 

 called the Fudan-giku , a large yellow very double one, 

 with broad ray flowers. Another is a large red variety. 

 Basketfuls of these flowers, pulled off the stems, can be 

 seen at the green grocers' for many weeks during the 



mortar. They are also packed in salt and thus pre- 

 served for winter use. 



Clethra barbinervis, Sieb. and Zucc. ; Jap. Kiobu. 

 (Sweet Pepper Bush.) The leaves of this bush or 

 small tree are picked while young, and boiled, when 

 they are eaten with rice in times of scarcity. They are 

 not a common article of diet. It is a stiff, smooth 

 bush with large obovate rough leaves, some five to seven 

 inches long and two to three inches broad, on short 

 petioles, and with serrate, sharply pointed teeth on 

 margin. The flowers are small, white, in long racemes. 

 Wild in many parts of the country, and quite orna- 

 mental. 



Cardamine lyrata, Burge.; Jap. Midzn-tagarashi. A 

 pungent little cruciferous plant which grows on the 

 sandy bottoms of shallow streams, where the leaves 

 are gathered by poor folks to use as salad with fish. 



Cryptot.^nia Canadensis, De C. {Sison Canadense, 

 L.) ; Jap.' Alitsul'a, Mitsuba-seri, Ushi-mitsuba. This 

 plant, which is also found here, is an important vege- 

 table in Japan, and is very generally cultivated all over 

 the country. It grows about two feet tall, though as 

 a vegetable it is used before it is full grown ; it has 

 palmately trifoliate leaves {initsiiba means three- 

 leaved), leaflets doubly or irregularly serrate, rather 



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Present Diagram of a Correspondent's Grounds 

 See " Taste and Tact" series, page 716. 



fall. They are cooked in many ways, mostly boiled, 

 and eaten as greens with vinegar and sugar, but also as 

 salad, being first cut fine, then beaten to a pulp in a 



the rows of ripening grain, and cov- 

 ered with straw for mulch. When 

 the grain is removed it becomes the 

 sole occupant of the ground, and is 

 manured and cultivated during the 

 summer. The next following Janu- 

 ary it is usually manured with rice 

 bran, and the earth is hilled-up over 

 the roots so the leaves can bleach 

 when they shoot through. The 

 leaves appear in March, when they 

 are pulled off at the roots, tied in 

 bundles, and marketed. The tops 

 are used for greens and to flavor 

 soups, and the blanched stems are 

 used both as a salad and boiled, and 

 they are really a very desirable vege- 

 table. Old plants are often lifted in 

 the fall, and placed on gentle hot- 

 beds made of rubbish, where they 

 produce leaf stems for early use. 

 These are some seven or eight inches 

 long and quite slender. The root is 

 also eaten when boiled and dressed 

 with oil. This vegetable would 

 doubtless meet with favor in this 

 country. There are several varie- 

 ties. 



Cnicus pendulus, Fran, and Sav. [Cirsium pendu- 

 lum, Fisch.) ; Jap. I\Ia-azami. An improved form of 

 this thistle is cultivated in the province of Orni for the 



