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The "Inu-biwa" (Ficus erecta) belongs to Moraceae (the Mulberry family). It is a small deciduous tree that is distributed westward from Kanto district of Honshu to Shikoku, Kyushu of Japan, as well as Taiwan, Jedu-do and south-eastern China. This tree grows in mountains and hills, and can reach 3-5 m in height. The leaves are ovate-elliptic and arrnaged in alternate. The white saps ooze when the branches or leaves are injured. It is a dioecious. The flower bloated sacs come in April and May. The fruits are utricles, ripen black-purple in fall, and edible. In the old days, the "Inu-biwa" was called "Ichijiku" (fig). In Taiwanese Chinese, it is called "˜ï”ø”f", and "áâ�¬“V�å‰Ê" (ai xiao tian xian guo) in Chinese.
In Korean, it's called "cheon-seon-gwa-na-mu" (천선과나무). This is a compound word consisting of "Japanese fig," (cheon-seon-gwa: 천선과) + "tree" (na-mu: 나무). "cheon-seon-gwa" is a Sino-Japanese term meaning "the fruit eaten by celestial immortals".
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