The "Mateba-shii" (Lithocarpus edulis) belongs to Fagaceae (the Beech family). It is a tall evergreen tree that is distributed westward from Kanto-district of Honshu to Shikoku, Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands in Japan. This tree grows in coastal areas and can reach about 15 m in height. The leaves are thick, leathery, obovate-elliptic and alternate. The pale yellow flowers come in late May to June. The nuts are oblong and ripen next year's fall. They are edible because of insensible lixivium.