page_title: Myrica rubra
section_title: Cultivation
hierarchical_section_title: Myrica rubra / Cultivation
caption_attribution_description: English: Title: The American garden Identifier: americangarden121891broo (find matches) Year: 1873 (1870s) Authors: Subjects: Horticulture; Gardening Publisher: Brooklyn, N. Y.&#160;: (s. n. ) Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: THE ECONOMIC PLAXTS OF JAPAN—II. 8i The Pomegranate (Piiiiua graiiatinii, L.); Jap., Zaknro. The pomegranate is grown rather more com- monly than the fig, and is found quite as far north. It, too, is an introduced plant, probably also brought by the Portuguese from the shores of the Mediterranean. They utilize this shrub or small tree in a three- fold manner. It is, perhaps, first and foremost es- teemed for orna- ment. Its large and beautiful scarlet flowers are often seen on the flower ped- dlers' stands, as well as in the gardens. The flower vender carries his stock of goods on two light wooden trays, or in bask- ets, suspended from the ends of a pole that is slung over t h e shoulder. Flow- ering branches, often several feet long, of the plum, cherry, pomegranate and others, are thus peddled from door to door. The flow- ers are always cut with long stems and a lib- e r a 1 allowance of leaves, and they are never made into bou- quets. Those which fade eas- ily are often stuck into a joint of bamboo filled with water and tied to this port- able stand, thus presenting a novel appearance. Again, the pomegranate is valued for its fruit, and lastly, the young leaves are sometimes fed to silk worms when the crop of mulberry leaves is short. The fruit is about the size and shape of a Bartlett pear, though some varieties are more apple-shaped&#160;; purple or red- dish-yellow in color, and when ripe, it bursts open, dis- playing the little bags of crisp, juicy flesh, each of which encloses a seed. They pick them usually too early, as in the case of their plums and peaches, and for this reason the foreign buyer is apt to misjudge Text Appearing After Image: Fig. 8. Myrica rubra. Full Size. (See page 82.) the quality of the fruit. If allowed to ripen fully, few fruits are more delicious. They have several varieties —some quite sour, others very sweet and high flavored. In this connection it may be well to mention three other fruits which are grown only in the extreme south, namely, the pineapple, the guava and the rose apple, Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: Myrica rubra, also called yangmei, yamamomo, Chinese bayberry, Japanese bayberry, red bayberry, yumberry, waxberry, or Chinese strawberry is a subtropical tree grown for its fruit.
context_section_description: Chinese cultivation is concentrated south of the Yangtze River, where it has considerable economic importance and  has been grown for at least 2000 years. 
  It tolerates poor acidic soils. The root system is 5–60 cm (2.0–23.6 in) deep, with no obvious taproot.
  Myrica rubra was first introduced into the United States by Frank Nicholas Meyer from seed purchased from the Yokohama Nursery Co. in Japan and published in the Bulletin of Foreign Plant Introductions in 1918. Plants from the collection were grown and fruited in Chico, California and in Brooksville, Florida by David Fairchild. M. rubra is being commercialized in California by Calmei, a California corporation.  Trees are prolific producers, with a single tree yielding some 100 kilograms (220 lb) of fruit. As of 2007, 865,000 acres were devoted to yangmei production in China – double the amount of acres utilized in apple production in the United States.
  The tree is used as ornaments for parks and streets. It is also a traditional tree used in composing classical East Asian gardens.
caption: M. rubra plate from The American garden 1873
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