If the Weihaiwei villages are not in themselves objects of beauty they are often surrounded by groves of trees which go far to conceal their less attractive features; and many of the cottages have little gardens which if chiefly devoted to vegetables are seldom quite destitute of flowers. The peony, chrysanthemum, wild lilies and roses, spiræa, hibiscus, jasmine, sunflower, campanula, iris and Michaelmas daisy are all common, and a few experiments made since the British occupation prove that numerous English flowers such as the Canterbury Bell, mignonette, carnation, aster, wall-flower, geranium and many others, in spite of an uneven rainfall and extremes of heat and cold seldom experienced in England, find a congenial home in Weihaiwei. Many of the flowering plants are prized for their medicinal qualities, real or supposed. The sunflower-seed--as in India and Russia--is used as a food for both men and animals, and the leaves and stems are said to make good fodder. A little purple wildflower named _ching tzŭ_ that grows on sandy soil near the sea-side is in some localities eaten by women on account of its magical efficacy in giving strength to unborn children: but this superstition seems to be dying out. The trees in the neighbourhood of villages and in graveyards are common property, and it is very rarely, therefore, that they are cut down: elsewhere trees are very few, and timber is so scarce that large quantities are imported yearly from Manchuria.[107] Some of the principal trees of the Territory are the fir (_Pinus Thunbergii_ and _Pinus Massoniana_), ailanthus, _wu-t'ung_ (_Paulonia imperialis_) and white poplar; and there are also cypress, walnut, _ch'iu_ (_Catalpa_), pomegranate, wax-tree,[108] the beautiful maidenhair tree (_Salisbaria adiantifolia_)[109] and the _huai shu_ (_Sophora japonica_).