Eriobotrya japonica - Loquat, biwa cha (Japan), pipa, nespolo

BACKGROUND AND HISTORY

Eriobotrya japonica has been called Loquat, or Japanese plum and Japanese medlar. To the Italians, it is nespola giapponese; to French-speaking people, it is néflier du Japon, or bibassier. In the German language, it is japanische mispel, or wollmispel; in Spanish, nispero, nispero japonés, or nispero del Japón; in Portuguese, ameixa amarella, or ameixa do Japao.

Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) is a subtropical evergreen fruit tree originating in southeastern China. It has been cultivated for more than 2000 years. Presumably the fruits and seeds were brought back from China to Japan by the many Japanese scholars visiting and studying in China during the Tang Dynasty. The western world first learned of it from the botanist Kaempfer in 1690. Thunberg, who saw it in Japan in 1712, provided a more elaborate description. It was planted in the National Gardens, Paris, in 1784 and plants were taken from Canton, China, to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, England, in 1787. Soon, the tree was grown on the Riviera and in Malta and French North Africa (Algeria) and the Near East and fruits were appearing on local markets. In 1818, excellent fruits were being produced in hothouses in England. The tree can be grown outdoors in the warmest locations of southern England.

Loquat is now commercially cultivated in more than 30 countries worldwide, including Japan, Turkey, Brazil, Spain, India, Pakistan, Israel, and Italy. China is now the largest producer of loquat fruit with a cultivation area of about 170,000 ha and an annual output of about one million tons.

Loquat is a plant with high medicinal value and different organs that have been used historically as folk medicines for thousands of years. Loquat extracts have been used for the treatment of cough, chronic bronchitis (CB), inflammation, diabetes, and cancer in Chinese folk medicine. Ancient literature, such as the ‘Compendium of Materia Medica’, described the origin, classification, breeding methods, and medicinal value of the loquat tree, and laid the foundation for the development and cultivation of loquat.

Loquat, is famous for its delicious yellow / apricot / salmon colored fruit. Although the tree will grow relatively well in shorter daylight hours of the tropical, it is most suited in a mediterranean or warm temperate region where it will set fruit more readily and mature larger crops.

The Loquat tree is notable for its balanced, compact structure and thick, deep green and deeply veined evergreen leaves. The fruit can vary significantly in size and quality. The images here depict a selected variety of Loquat fruit of medium to large size with a single seed. In North America it is more common for people to plant the tree as an ornamental, with little knowledge or regard for the fruit, thus seedling trees are planted with small inferior quality fruit with a higher seed / flesh ratio.

CULTURE

Loquat grows rapidly and needs frequent pruning to keep it manageable and facilitate harvesting. The tree has a shallow root system and may require irrigation at lower elevations. Trees at the 12 Trees Project site, at 430-foot elevation, are given 15 minutes of water daily with a 1/2-gallon per hour emitter.  The tree is a heavy feeder and requirements for fertilizer vary greatly depending on location. Generally, in Hawaii, a 1/2 pound of 6-6-6- fertilizer applied evenly spaced 4 times per year to mature trees will ensure good fruit growth.  Loquat can be pruned as an espalier or kept low to the ground. Multiple branches on new growth are removed leaving only the top and bottom branches.

In Asia, a number of techniques are used to produce large fruit with high quality. As flowers develop, they should be thinned to 3 bottom stalks (racemes). Depending on the variety, only 3 to 5 fruit are left on each panicle. The fruit should be covered to protect it from fruit fly and to slow coloration. Double bags used in Japan reduce light from reaching the fruit for 80% of fruit development. When that is reached, the outer bag is removed; leaving the inner bag that permits 60% of the light to reach the fruit. Most loquats turn from green to yellow to light orange when ripe.

NUTRITION

Loquat fruits are high in fiber, antioxidants, vitamin a, vitamin c, potassium, and other beneficial minerals. Loquat leaf likewise has a range of health benefits, including blood sugar regulation and anti-inflammatory effects. Another variety of loquat is the Bronze Loquat (E. deflect); this tree produces smaller, darker colored fruit in fall, and is also edible.

HARDINESS

For fruit production Loquats are best planted in Mediterranean, warm temperate and subtropical climates. Although Loquat trees can survive in temperatures down to about 10 degrees F, fruit will likely not survive if flowers are exposed to temperatures falling below 28 degrees F. A relatively short, mild winter is preferable.

Loquat Tea Recipe

“Japanese use loquat leaves as a traditional cure for preventing and treating respiratory ailments.

Loquat leaves also contain compounds demonstrated to lower blood's lipid and sugar levels and alleviate inflammatory skin conditions, including atopic dermatitis (eczema.)

Loquat leaves are listed for their health benefits in Japanese Pharmacopoeia (Nippon Yakkyoku-hō,) the official record of approved medicinal herbs, published by the Government of Japan since 1886.” Wawaza.com

Links:

Biological Activities of Extracts from Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.): A Review

Purdue Horticulture - Loquat

Hawaii Fruit - Loquat

This is the most informative video I’ve found on loquats:

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Cornus kousa - Kousa Dogwood

Cornus Kousa - a beautiful small tree native to east Asia, Korea, China and Japan. Trees bear an edible fruit. The thin fruit rind is best discarded as it imparts a bitter taste. The custard-like pulp can be eaten when ripe or used in jams or sauces. The fruit is not widely eaten but can be seen used as a landscape tree, in botanical gardens, etc.

Diospyros kaki - Hachiya and Fuyu

Araucaria bidwillii - Bunya-Bunya pine

Araucaria angustifolia - Para pine, Brazilian pine, Candelabra tree

Papaver somniferum - Opium Poppy, ying su, ya pian (Chinese), kas kas (Malay), Adormidera (Spanish)

The opium poppy is an erect annual herb, growing up to a meter and a half in height with large hairless, almost grayish-green, serrated leaves. The large flowers are solitary, born on slender stalks, with large papery petals, as can be observed in the photos below. The seedheads have a very distinctive appearance, not unlike that of a saltshaker.

The opium poppy is a cultigen of unknown origin, believed to be indigenous to southwestern Asia. Really, it can not be said with certitude where its original home was. Poppy seeds have been found during excavations of 4,000 + year-old lake dwellings in Switzerland. Today it can be found cultivated throughout the world, especially in areas of Asia, Europe, North Africa, and the Americas. It is primarily propagated for the extraction of opium, from which a number of pharmaceutical and narcotic drugs are derived, such as heroin, codeine, and morphine, among others. Poppy seeds, a common condiment, can also be harvested from the ripe pods.

It is still not known whether the plant was first cultivated as an edible seed for the opium it provides. Both the seeds and sap were used for their remedial properties as early as 2,500 B.C. Assyrian medical texts refer to the opium poppy as "the plant of joy."

Throughout history it seems the plant has always been cultivated and consumed for both medicinal and hedonistic purposes.

Opium is legally produced in India and Turkey, while poppy seeds and poppy seed oil comes mainly from Europe, the Middle East, and India. The seeds contain no alkaloids.

For household medicinal applications, an infusion can be made from the mature seed pods. A typical dose amounts to around five grams of seed pod per half liter of water. The infusion possesses calmative and narcotic properties. For insomnia one can drink half a glass of opium poppyhead tea about a half an hour before going to sleep. To calm stomach pains and colic a half glass can be consumed every half hour. This same infusion is excellent to alleviate and combat cough, fever, and numerous ailments associated with the chest and lungs.

The dose can be amplified when used to calm chronic toothache, and inflammations of the mouth and throat.

Opium is derived from the milky sap exuded from mature seedheads when nicked or cut. Dioscorides provided a concise explanation of the procedure: Those who wish to obtain the sap must, after the dew has dried, go around the little star with a knife in such a way that this does not penetrate to the interior, and superficially incise the capsule in a straight direction on the sides, then smear the emerging tears with the fingers into a shell, and go back again after not too long a time, for it will have thickened and the next day it will be found like this as well. You must then knead it in a n old mortar, shape it in to lozenges and store it." (Book IV, Ch. 65)

The seed capsule can be cut either horizontally or vertically (both methods are practiced). The exuded sap can be collected numerous times daily, although traditionally seedheads are cut in the evening and the sap gathered the next morning. The milky sap dries to a brown color, this is raw opium. This is often collected with a special curved knife, which is also used to make incisions in the poppyhead. Raw opium is typically rendered to a more concentrated state by adding water and applying heat, thereby reducing the syrupy mass.

It is almost impossible to fathom just how significant a role Papaver somniferum has played in the course of human evolution.

The plant was highly regarded in ancient Greece, opium was not only the best and most frequently used medicines, but used in a wide variety of cultic contexts, also associated with many gods. IT is likely that the brown juice of the poppy (opium base) was employed in the initiatory drink of the Elusinian mysteries, thought to have been a major ingredient into what sounds like a particularly powerful drink, including ergot (Claviceps purpurea) and pennyroyal (Mentha pudegium).

Opium has always been revered as a potent aphrodisiac. The first source from the Ayurvedic system of medicine to list opium as a remedy is from Sarngadhara Sambita in the thirteenth century.Sarngdhara describes in some detail an opium containing powder called "akarakarabhadi chruna", which he lists as an aphrodisiac.

The recipe is as follows:

1 part aharakara (Anacyclus pyrethrum)

1 part sunthi (ginger; Zingiber officinale)

1 part kankila (Piper cubeba)

1 part kesara (Mallothus philippinensis)

1 part pippali (long pepper; Piper longum)

1 part jatiphala (nutmeg; Myristica fragrans)

1 part lavanga (clove; Carophyllus)

1 part candana (sandalwood; Santalum album)

4 parts ahiphena (opium; Papaver somniferum)

The dose was suggested at apprx. 300 mg.

In addition to its common use as an aphrodisiac. Opium was also frequently combined with hemp products and nightshades and consecrated to Shiva.

The Rajputs used opium combined with olibanum (frankincense resin), cumin (Cuminum cyminum), and pureed fruit. This mixture is said to have been a popular aphrodisiac in the day.

Opium is a better aphrodisiac when eaten. To be smoked, raw opium must be changed into smoking opium, which involves a somewhat involved process.

There are a number of books on the natural history of opium, all of which include a much more extensive history.

Papaver somniferum

P. somniferum flower, closeup

Manilkara zapota - Chico Sapote, Nispero

Indigenous to Mexico and Central America, Sapodilla (or Chico Sapote) is a traditional food plant of the Mayan and Aztec cultures and the source of chewing gum, or chicle, chewed by the Aztecs in pre-Colombian ties, still used in some commercial gums. The tree has spread to other parts of the tropical world, becoming a minor fruit crop. Although grafted varieties can be managed low, larger trees can reach a height of 20 m. The tree is evergreen and produces round or egg-shaped fruits, which vary in size. Good varieties can be truly incredible. A good Sapodilla tastes like brown sugar, very sweet and slightly gritty like pears.

Cercidium (Parkinsonia) microphyllum - Palo Verde, Dipua

Palo Verde grow as a large bush or small to medium size tree. It has smooth, greenish photosynthetic bark. There are numerous species of Cercidium (sonorae, praecox, peninsulare), which can are referred to variously as Palo Verde, Palo Estribo, and Dipua. There is some confusion amongst the layperson as to what, exactly, this differentiation is. Thus, to such individuals, all Cercidium species are thought to be "Palo Verde". This, of course, is not the case. The below photos are of Cercidium microphyllum, which can be distinguished from other Cercidium species by the lack of nodal thorns. Instead of nodal thorn thorns the tree has closely crowded spiny branchlet tips in broom-like arrangements. 

Natives of the area used to (and probably still do to an extent) shell, toast and grind the seeds to store for winter sustenance. Reportedly, unless the seeds are fully ripe when harvested, dried and processed, they can cause severe diarrhea. The upper branches have been known to be used as a forage for mules, horses and burros (donkeys).