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126 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland are even now so valuable that they are cut into veneer, and I have a magnificent specimen of such in a sheet 8 feet long by 18 to 20 inches wide which has been mounted for me as a table by Messrs. Marsh, Cribb, and Co. of Leeds. The reason why it is neglected for all these purposes is apparently as follows: The tree is usually grown in the form of a bush, and does not often become tall and straight enough to form clean timber. It is not usually planted close enough to become drawn up into clean poles, and is rarely felled except when in the way, or when it has become decayed and unsightly. No tree is so deceptive in appearance as an old yew tree. Not only is it usually full of holes and shakes, but the heartwood is generally more or less unsound when over a foot in diameter. Some defects are usually present in an old yew tree, and even when clean and sound, the heartwood is not so good in colour as the younger wood or the slabs; and as the bark grows over and covers all these defects it is generally impossible to say how much, if any, of the timber of a large yew will be useful until it is sawn through the middle. It seems to be soundest and best in colour when of moderate age and not over 12 to 18 inches in diameter, though the slabs from old trees of which the heartwood is pale, shaky, or faulty often show the finest and most twisted grain. (H. J. E.) CRYPTOMERIA Cryptomeria, D. Don, Trans. Linn. Soc. xviii. 166 (1839); Bentham et Hooker, Gen. PI. iii. 428 (1880); Masters, Jour. Linn. Soc. (JBot.) xxx. 23 (1893). A GENUS with one very variable living species, in Eastern Asia, belonging to the tribe Taxodinese of the order Coniferse. A tree with evergreen leaves spirally arranged and decurrent on the shoots, which are only of one kind. Flowers monoecious. Male flowers : spike-like, sessile in the axils of the uppermost leaves of the branchlets, composed of numerous imbricated stamens, which have a pointed connective, and 3 to 5 pollen sacs. Female flowers : globular cones solitary and sessile on the tips of branchlets near to those on which the staminate flowers occur, composed of numerous bracts with free recurved pointed ends spirally imbricated in a continuous series with the leaves. Ovular scales, each bearing 3 to 5 ovules, united with the bracts for three-fourths of their length and dilated into roundish crenately-lobed extremities. Fruit: a globular brownish cone, ripening in the first year, but persisting on the tree after the escape of the seeds by the gaping apart of the scales till the next year or longer; scales about 20 to 30 in number, peltate, stalked with a disc dilated externally, which shows on its outer surface the recurved point of the bract (incorporated with the scale in its greater part), and on its upper margin 3 to 5 sharp-pointed rigid processes. The stalk-like portion of the scale bears on its inner side 2 to 5 seeds, which are ovate-oblong, somewhat triquetrous in section, and narrowly winged, with a mucro near the apex. 127
128 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland CRYPTOMERIA JAPONICA Cryptomeria japonica, Don, Trans. Linn. Soc. (Bot.\ xviii. 167, tab. xiii. i (1839); Hooker, Icon. Plant, vii. 668 (1844); Siebold, Flora Japotiica, i i. 43, tab. 124, 124^ (1870); Kent in VeitcKs Man. Coniferce, 2 63 (1900) ; Shirasawa, Iconographie des Essences Forestieres du Japan, text 24, tab. ix. 25-42 (1900); Mayr, Fremdlandische Wald- und Parkbaiime, 2 78 (1906). A tall tree, attaining in Japan a height of 150 feet or more, and a girth of 20 to 25 feet, the trunk tapering from a broad base. Bark reddish brown, and peeling off in long, ribbon-like shreds. Leaves persistent for 4 or 5 years, arranged spirally on the shoots in five ranks, curving inwards and directed forwards, awl-shaped, tapering to a point, compressed laterally, keeled on front and back, bearing stomata on both sides, with the base decurrent on the branchlet to the insertion of the next leaf. The buds are minute, and composed of three minute leaves, which are free at the base, and not decurrent. The male flowers are clustered at the ends of the branchlets in false racemes, the leaves in the axils of which they arise being reduced in size, and fulfilling the function of bracts. They appear on the tree in autumn and shed their pollen in early spring, remaining for some time afterwards in a withered state. The buds of the female flowers are also to be seen in autumn terminating some of the branchlets, and covered externally with small, awl-shaped leaves. The shoot' is frequently continued in the leafy state throughout the cone ("proliferation"), and the extended portion often grows to several inches in length beyond the cone, and even in some cases bears male catkins. Woody excrescences 2 of a conical shape often develop on the stem, to which they are loosely connected. They correspond to the " wood-balls " which are found on beeches and cedars, and like these are due to abnormal development of dormant buds. Seedling: the cotyledons, which are generally 3 in number, the occurrence of 2 only being rare, are carried above ground by an erect caulicle, about ^ inch long, ending below in a primary root, which is reddish, flexuous, and about 3 inches long, giving off a few lateral fibres. The cotyledons are linear, flattened, obtuse, and about £ inch long; two, narrowed at the base, are prolonged on the caulicle as ribs; the other, sessile on a broad base, is not decurrent; all bear stomata on their upper surface. The first leaves on the stem are in a whorl of 3, similar in shape to the cotyledons, but longer and with slightly decurrent bases. The leaves following are inserted spirally on the stem, and are longer, sharper-pointed, and more decurrent. All are spreading, with stomata and a prominent median nerve on their lower surface. The stem, roughened by the leaf-bases, terminates above in a cluster of 5 to 6 leaves, crowded at their insertion and directed upwards. 1 Remarkable instances of proliferous cones and other abnormalities are described and figured in Rev. Horticole, 1 887, 39 Z - 2 Figured in Card. Chron., May 30, 1903, p. 352. Cryptomeria VARIETIES 129 There are at least two well-marked geographical forms, var. japonica and var. Fortunei, which will perhaps be ranked as distinct species, when the trees are studied in the wild state. Other varieties, which have probably arisen in cultivation, are distinguished by peculiarities of the foliage. 1. Vrar. japonica, the type described by Don from Japanese specimens collected by Thunberg. This is the form which occurs wild in Japan. The tree is pyramidal in habit, with straight, spreading branches and short, stout, dark green leaves. The cones are composed of numerous scales, bearing long acuminate processes, and showing long points to the bracts, making the outer surface of the cone very spiny, especially towards the summit. There are generally 5 seeds to each scale. 2. Var. Lobbii?—Tree narrow, pyramidal in habit, with short branches densely ramified. The leaves are long and light green in colour. The cones are like those of the preceding variety, but with the processes and tips of the "bracts even longer and more slender. This is perhaps a geographical form, occurring in Japan, where it was collected by Wright. It has certainly proved hardier than the Chinese variety both in this country and on the Continent. 3. Var. Forhtnei* or sinensis? A tree diffuse in habit, with deflexed branches and long, slender branchlets. Leaves long and slender. Cones with fewer scales (about 20), which end in short processes, the tips of the bracts being of no great length, so that the whole cone looks much less spiny than that of the Japanese forms. Seeds fewer, often only 2 on a scale, but apparently indistinguishable from those of the Japanese trees. This is the form which occurs wild in China, and which was first introduced into this country. It was described by Sir W. J. Hooker 4 from specimens gathered by Sir Everard Home in Chusan. The Chinese form ripens its seeds three weeks sooner at Dropmore than the var. Lobbii. 4. Var. araucarioides?—Branches deflexed, with the branchlets long, pendulous, and very distantly placed. Leaves small, stout, stiff, and curving inwards at the top, dark green in colour. Cones as in var. japonica, of which this is only a slight variety. It is described as a shrub or low tree ; but this may arise from its being propagated from cuttings. Large trees occur, of a similar habit, which seem, however, to be sports from var. Fortunei. 5. Var. pzmgens*—Leaves straight, stiff, spreading, darker green, and more sharply pointed than in common forms. I have not seen cones ; and the origin of this variety is not clearly known. 1 Gordon, Pinetum ( 1858), p. 54. 2 Cryptomeria Fortunei, Hooibrenk, Wien. Jour, fiir Pflcnzenkunde, 1 853, p. 22. 3 Cryptomeria japonica, var. sincnsis, Siebold, I.e. 49. 4 Hooker, Inc. cit. He points out the difference in the cones of the Chinese and Japanese trees, but says that they are undoubtedly one species. Hunbury, Arboretum Notes, 172, remarks that the cones of the Barton tree, from Chinese seed, are very different from Don's figure of Japanese cones. 6 Carriere, Traiti Gin. Conif. ( 1867), p. 193. 6 Hort. A sub-variety of this, pungens rtibiginosa, is mentioned in Garden, iii. 1873, p. 322. The leaves are said to assume a coppery or tawny red colour from August until April. I S
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»f rees Great Britain Ireland BY H
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Trees of Great Britain Ireland BY H
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PREFACE THE United Kingdom offers a
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CONTENTS PAGE DEDICATION ........ v
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The Trees of Great Britain and Irel
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The Trees of Great Britain and Irel
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8 The Trees of Great Britain and Ir
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12 The Trees of Great Britain and I
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16 The Trees of Great Britain and I
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lo The Trees of Great Britain and I
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Page 29 and 30: SOPHORA Sophora, Linnaeus, Gen. PI.
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Page 113 and 114: a 7" KSrJi «£^«~ **». . "" ^ '"
Page 115 and 116: INARCHED BP;ECH AT ASIIRIDGE TLATE
Page 117 and 118: 13KECII WOOD AT SLINHON A ru 6.
Page 119 and 120: BEECH AT NEWBATTLE Pi .ATE 8.
Page 121 and 122: I BEECH AT GORDON CASTLE TLAI-K 10.
Page 123 and 124: KING BEECH AT KNOLE I'LAIE 12.
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AILANTHUS AT BELTON PLATE 14.
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SOI'HORA AT CAMBRIDGE PLATE 16.
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ARAUCARIA FOREST IN CM ILK I'l.MT.
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ARAUCARIAS AT BEAUFORT
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MAIDENHAIR T liEK AT FKOGMOKF. PLAT
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TULIP TREE IN NORTH CAROLINA 1'LATE
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TULIP TREE AT KILLERTON PLATE 26.
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PLATE SERVIAN SPRUCE IN BOSNIA 28.
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MENZIES' SPRUCE AT BEAUFORT PLATE 3
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YEW AVENUE AT MIDIIURST PLATE 32.
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i '*m i t /n b &; y'JM i /Jk, - •
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•• *-' YEW AT WHITTIKGHAME PLAT
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CRYPTOMERIA FOREST IN NORTH JAPAN 1
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CRYPTOMEKIAS AT IMAICHI I'l.ATE 40.
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CRYPTOMERIA AT HEMSTED PLATK 42.
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PYRUS. PLATE 44.
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SORB TREE AT ARLEV PLATE 46.
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SERVICE TREE AT RICKMANSWORTH >.mmm
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'^iji^m^^Jt^.^M. SERVICE TREE AT SY
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DECIDUOUS CYPRESS IN VIRGINIA PLATE
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DECIDUOUS CYPRESS AT SYON Tr.ATE 54
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GIANT THUYA IN VANCOUVER'S ISLAND P
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Plate 58 represents the trunk of wh
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j« WESTERN HEMLOCK GROWING ON FALL
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