Phrynium capitatum
The leaves of the plant are large, glabrous, and structured. They are suitable for wrapping glutinous rice dumplings and steaming rice cakes. When rice cakes are steamed, clean, fresh leaves are used to line the base and sides of bamboo steaming baskets. Slurry is poured into the basket after lining. The stiff leaves prevent the edge of the liner from collapsing. After steaming, the leaves stick to the rice cake and prevent the cake from getting moldy. It acts as a natural, heat resistant ‘cling wrap’.
Where to find them: near streams in the shade
Karnikar
Pterospermum heterophyllum
(Villagers refer to the leaf as ‘pau’ leaf [pau3 yip6].) Its leaves have a diversity of margin types. The leaf margins can be smooth, or they can break off into a series of tooths. Sometimes its leaves are like maple leaves, at other times it looks like lotus leaves. When rice cakes are steamed, its leaves are lined on top of the leaves of the flaccid conehead. The leaves are used in combination to prevent the slurry from leaking. When the leaf is cooked, it has an aroma similar to that of lotus leaves.
Wild coffee
Psychotria asiatica
The leaves are used as ‘parchment papers’ for making Hakka Rice Dumplings. After shaping the dough of Hakka rice dumplings, the dough will be put on the leaves of wild coffee before steaming. The branches of wild coffee have many nodes, thus they are sometimes referred to as ‘nine nodes’. The fruit of the plant turns red as it matures at the end of the year. Although the fruit looks similar to that of coffee, wild coffee is an evergreen shrub indigenous to Hong Kong. It is often found in villages and Feng Shui forests. It is extremely shade-tolerant, and it thrives at the base of forests.
Wax tree
Rhus succedanea
Water in raw lacquer evaporates quickly over the summer months due to the abundance of sunlight and lack of rain, therefore summer is the best time for harvesting and processing lacquer sap to make purified lacquer. According to volunteer Chin Hong, making lacquer is a laborious process. Wax trees only produce one kan of lacquer sap per year. Following traditional techniques passed on from ancestors, raw lacquer sap is mixed with (soil) and shaped into utensils. The sap from the tree irritates the skin, thus one should not touch the leaves with bare hands.