The lacquer tree (Rhus vernicifera) is indigenous to Japan; it supplies a valuable timber, and its fruit yields vegetable wax, but it is chiefly cultivated on account of its juice–lacquer (Urushi)–which forms the basis of the famous Japanese varnishes. The juice is obtained by making incisions in the tree, and it is made into a varnish by simply stirring in the sun in order to drive off an excess of moisture. Different colours may be imparted to the varnish by the addition of various metals, oxides, and sulphides; and after it has been applied to an object it must be hardened by exposure to a moist atmosphere at a moderately high temperature.