Resources of the Tang Tribe (Part Two)

There were also many kinds of non-edible plants, most of them trees. Luo Chong gave them a rough look and found that there were four kinds of pine trees alone. Two of them were particularly striking: one was the stinking pine, which gave off an odor all over, and the other was the water pine, which grew near water sources. The remaining two had no definite names.

The largest of these pine trees reached forty or fifty meters in height, with trunks more than one and a half meters in diameter. They were excellent building materials. With pine trees nearby, they could also burn pine soot ink for writing, which solved another problem.

Among the others he could recognize were fir, willow, sawtooth oak, and mulberry trees. These species also grew in the Han Tribe. However, there was almost no oak wood here, even though it was the most suitable for making furniture, which was rather regrettable. Still, having mulberry trees was a good thing. The Han Tribe could promote silkworm raising and silk reeling here, allowing the capital to produce silk as well.

Besides these, there were also many tree species the Han Tribe had never seen. One of them stayed evergreen throughout the year and had leaves shaped like deer antlers. It was a species unseen north of the Han Tribe: the cypress. Its leaves were highly distinctive, with patterns like those in a preserved egg. Its branches and leaves were also excellent for smoking cured meat.

There was also the fan palm tree. Luo Chong did not know its original name either. He only knew that its leaves were specially used to make palm-leaf fans, so he simply named it the Fan Palm Tree.

There was also a fibrous tree species the Tang Tribe used to make