''Chengiopanax sciadophylloides'' is a flowering tree in the family

Araliaceae The Araliaceae are a family of flowering plants composed of about 43 genera and around 1500 species consisting of primarily woody plants and some herbaceous plants commonly called the ginseng family. The morphology of Araliaceae varies widely ...

native to Japan. Previously included in the genus ''

Eleutherococcus ''Eleutherococcus'' is a genus of 38 species,p.40, citing Frodin, Govaerts 2003 of thorny shrubs and trees in the family Araliaceae. They are native to eastern Asia, from southeast Siberia and Japan to the Philippines and Vietnam. 18 species come ...

'', it is distinguished from other members of that genus by not having spines or prickles and ITS sequence data confirmed the separation.

Chemistry

''Chengiopanax sciadophylloides'' has been found to be a specific

hyperaccumulator A hyperaccumulator is a plant capable of growing in soil or water with high concentrations of metals, absorbing them through their roots, and concentrating extremely high levels of metals in their tissues. The metals are concentrated at levels th ...

manganese Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...

even in soils not contaminated with excessive amounts of manganese. In wild plants manganese concentrations of up to of dried leaf have been analyzed. After the

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster The Fukushima nuclear accident was a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan, which began on 11 March 2011. The cause of the accident was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which r ...

in March 2011 it was found that ''Chengiopanax sciadophylloides'' accumulated the radioactive isotope

Caesium-137 Caesium-137 (), cesium-137 (US), or radiocaesium, is a radioactive isotope of caesium that is formed as one of the more common fission products by the nuclear fission of uranium-235 and other fissionable isotopes in nuclear reactors and nucle ...

to concentrations above the human consumption guideline of 100

becquerel The becquerel (; symbol: Bq) is the unit of radioactivity in the International System of Units (SI). One becquerel is defined as an activity of one per second, on average, for aperiodic activity events referred to a radionuclide. For applicatio ...

s per kilogram of fresh weight even as far away as Nagano and Iwate Prefectures. Analysis of leaves taken from ''Chengiopanax sciadophylloides'' in August and October 2013 from a forest northwest of the Fukushima Dai-ichi

Nuclear Power Plant A nuclear power plant (NPP), also known as a nuclear power station (NPS), nuclear generating station (NGS) or atomic power station (APS) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power st ...

found a mean concentration of 28,100

s per kilogram of dry weight, over three times those of other trees. They also accumulated the non-radioactive

Caesium-133 Caesium (55Cs) has 41 known isotopes, ranging in mass number from 112 to 152. Only one isotope, 133Cs, is stable. The longest-lived radioisotopes are 135Cs with a half-life of 1.33 million years, with a half-life of 30.1671 years and 134Cs with ...

more than other trees.

Uses

Known as ''koshiabura'' (コシアブラ), ''gonzetsu'' and ''gonzetsunoki'' in

Japanese cuisine Japanese cuisine encompasses the regional and traditional foods of Japan, which have developed through centuries of political, economic, and social changes. The traditional cuisine of Japan (Japanese language, Japanese: ) is based on rice with m ...

, it is foraged in the wild in spring for the young leaves as ''

sansai is a Japanese language, Japanese word literally meaning "mountain vegetables", originally referring to vegetables that grew naturally, were foraged in the wild, and not grown and harvested from fields. However, in modern times, the distinctio ...

'' ("mountain vegetables").* (government website PDF) It is called the "queen of sansai" and often used in

tempura is a typical Japanese dish that usually consists of seafood and vegetables that have been coated in a thin batter and deep-fried. Tempura originated in the 16th century, when Portuguese Jesuits brought the Western-style cooking method of ...

, but also popular in a range of dishes. The highest grade of buds is as small as a calligraphy brush, and thus called ''fude ha'' ("leaf of brush"). A decoction of the roots, tea of the root bark, and tea of the leaf were used in

Niigata Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan. Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,131,009 (1 July 2023) and is the List of Japanese prefectures by area, fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area ...

as a

folk remedy Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) refers to the knowledge, skills, and practices rooted in the cultural beliefs of various societies, especially Indigenous groups, used for maintaining health and treatin ...

. A lacquer-like coating material called used to be made from the sap. The polyacetylenes in the plant sap were polymerised by sunlight to produce the hard resin varnish. Two other members of the Araliaceae, ''

Dendropanax trifidus ''Dendropanax'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family (biology), family Araliaceae, consisting of 92 species of evergreen trees and shrubs, first described by Joseph Decaisne & Jules Émile Planchon in 1854.Decaisne, J. & Planchon, J.E. (1 ...

'' and ''

Gamblea innovans ''Gamblea'' is a genus of plants of the family Araliaceae, comprising four species. It originally comprised a single species, ''Gamblea ciliata'', which is found in India. The genus's native range stretches from the Himalaya to Japan and Sumater ...

'', may also have been sources for this lacquer in Japan. The lacquer was used to prevent corrosion of suits of armour and helmets, with related species providing a similar lacquer used in China during the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

and in Korea. The wood is used for general construction and for

chopsticks Chopsticks are shaped pairs of equal-length sticks that have been used as kitchen and eating utensils in most of East Asia for over three millennia. They are held in the dominant hand, secured by fingers, and wielded as extensions of the han ...

. The wood is regarded as auspicious and is valued in the Sasano-Bori doll carving tradition in

Yonezawa Yonezawa City Hall is a city in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 81,707 in 33,278 households, and a population density of 150 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Yonezawa is most famous for i ...

(along with the wood of the

Pagoda Tree ''Styphnolobium japonicum'', the Japanese pagoda tree (also known as the Chinese scholar tree and pagoda tree; syn. ''Sophora japonica'') is a species of deciduous tree in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. It was formerly incl ...

) for its strength and flexibility.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q15546763 Araliaceae Leaf vegetables Flora of Japan Endemic flora of Japan じゃじゃじゃじゃ