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130 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 6. Var. spiralis?—A slender shrub, with leaves strongly falcate and twisted spirally by their free ends around the branchlets, which assume in consequence a corkscrew-like appearance. A specimen of this at Kew also bears some branchlets with normal leaves. 7. Var. dacrydioides?—Leaves very closely set and very short (about \ inch long) There is a specimen at Kew of this form, gathered by Maries and said to be wild. It is probably a depauperate form, originating in rocky, barren, exposed ground. 8. Var. nana?—A dwarf, procumbent, dense, spreading shrub, with short acicular needles, closely set on the rigid branchlets and directed outwards. This form attains only 3 or 4 feet in height, and very often bears monstrous fasciated twigs. 9. Some slightly variegated forms of Cryptomeria have appeared in cultivation ; in one the tips of the branchlets are whitish ; in another the leaves are yellowish in colour. 10. Var. elegans, Masters, Jour. Linn. Soc. (Sot.) xviii. 497 (1881); Cryptomeria elegans, Veitch, ex Henkel und Hochstetter, Synopsis der Nadelholzer, 2 69 (1865). A fixed seedling form. The juvenile foliage is retained throughout the life of the tree, which bears the same relation to the type as Retinospora squarrosa does to Cupress^ls pisifera. It agrees in cones and in the anatomical structure of the leaves with the typical form. I n habit this is rather a large bush than a tree. The leaves, while spirally arranged on the shoot as in the ordinary form, spread outwards and are not directed upwards. They are decurrent on the branchlets, linear, flattened, curving downwards, sharp- pointed, grooved on the middle on both surfaces, and are light green in colour, changing in late autumn and winter to a reddish bronze colour, which gives the tree a remarkable and handsome appearance. There is a dwarf form of this variety, Cryptomeria elegans nana, which is a low, dense bush with crowded leaves, changing in colour in the autumn like the ordinary variety, except that the pendulous tips of the branchlets remain green. The origin of this remarkable form is obscure. In Japan, according to Siebold, it is known as to-sugi, i.e. " Chinese Cryptomeria," and is said to have been introduced from China. Kaempfer mentions a nankin^igi, introduced into Japan from China, cultivated on account of its beauty, which is possibly this variety. Cryptomeria elegans was introduced from Japan to England in 1861 by John Gould Veitch.4 The largest specimen we know occurs at Fota ; it is 42 feet high by 4 feet 9 inches in girth. In Cornwall this variety grows to a great size, the tops of the trees often bending down under the weight of their branches and foliage; and the outer lower branches commonly take root and grow into independent trees, which form a colony round the parent stem. 5 At Tregothnan there is a very fine example (Plate 37) which measures 35 feet by 4 feet 6 inches, and at Killerton there is another almost equal in size. In the 1 Siebold, foe. cit. 32. 3 Knight, Syn. Conif. ( 1850), p. 22. 4 Veitch, Man. Coniferce, 1st ed. 218 (1881) : ° Jour. Hort. Soc. xiv. (1892), p. 30. 2 Carriere, Traiti Gin. ConiJ. ( 1867), p. 193. ' Met with only in cultivation in neighbourhood of Yokohama." i Cryptomeria pinetum at Cowdray this form also grows very well, and it is perfectly hardy at Colesborne and in Yorkshire. At Poltalloch in Argyllshire it also attains large dimensions. IDENTIFICATION Cryptomeria resembles Sequoia and Araucaria Cunninghami in having leaves which are spirally arranged and markedly decurrent on the shoots. The awl-shaped leaves of Araucaria Crmninghami strongly resemble those of the ordinary forms of Cryptomeria; but in the former they always end in bristle-like points, whereas in the latter they taper to a blunt point. The subulate leaves of Seq^loia gigantea are closely appressed to the shoots in three ranks, with only their upper half free ; whereas in Cryptomeria they are in five ranks, and are free from the shoots for the greater part of their length. INTRODUCTION The tree is said by Siebold 1 to have been introduced into St. Petersburg by the overland route through Siberia, several years before Fortune sent it to England. The credit of the introduction into England is, however, due to Captain Sir Everard Home, 2 who sent seeds to Kew from Chusan in 1842. Several seedlings were raised at Kew, which were kept in a greenhouse till 1847, ar>d were then planted out; but they never did well. One planted near the rockery was living in 1880, when it measured 26 feet high by 2 feet 3 inches in girth ; and another stood for some years near the main entrance. Both these trees have been cut down, and there do not appear to be any survivors of the first importation now at Kew or elsewhere. Fortune introduced the tree in quantity in 1844, when he sent seeds, apparently gathered in Chekiang, from Shanghai to the Horticultural Society. The first tree planted in France was at Chaverney in 1844, and the second at Angers in 1847. All the old trees in this country and on the Continent are from Fortune's seeds, and belong consequently to the Chinese form. The variety Lobbii was introduced by Thomas Lobb in 1853 from the Botanic Garden of Buitzenborg in Java, where it had been sent from Japan in 1825 by Siebold. 3 It differs only slightly from the ordinary Japanese form. Siebold 4 states that he introduced the typical Japanese form into Leyden in 1861. John Gould Veitch introduced several kinds of Cryptomeria, as the result of his visit to Japan in 1860; but I have not been able to identify these, and according to H. J. Veitch, 5 the typical Japanese form was first introduced by Maries in 1879. Probably there are no trees of this kind in England older than this date. The introduction of variety elegans has been already given above. (A. H.) DISTRIBUTION IN CHINA Cryptomeria was discovered in China in 1701 by J. Cunningham, who found it in 1 Siebold, loc. cit. 48. 2 John Smith, Records of Kew Gardens ( 1880), p. 289; Sir W. J. Hooker, Guide to Keio Gardens, 1 847, p. 28, 1850, p. 14. 3 Siebold, loc. cit. 48. 4 Ibid. 5 1. 6 Jour. Hort. Soc. xiv. (1892), 30.
132, The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland the island of Chusan, off the coast of Chekiang. His specimens, three in number, are preserved in the British Museum, and a branch with cones was figured both by Petiver J and Plukenet. 2 A few years previously, probably in 1692, it had been found in Japan by Kaempfer,3 whose specimen also is kept in the British Museum ; and Thunberg 4 obtained specimens in Japan, the material on which Don founded his description of the genus. It was collected in China at different times by Sonnerat, 6 Millett,6 and Sir Everard Home ; 7 but we owe to Fortune the only account of importance of the tree in the wild state in China. Fortune 8 saw the tree for the first time in the plain of Shanghai in 1843, where it is planted in cemeteries and temple-grounds, and grows to a great size, the poles which are set up in front of temples and mandarins' offices being often of Cryptomeria. In 1844 he found it growing wild in the mountains south-west of Ningpo, where it forms dense woods with Cunninghamia and other trees. It is met with in the Chekiang mountains even at high elevations the finest specimens seen by Fortune occurring in the Bohea hills, which he crossed in 1849. He was particularly struck with a fine solitary tree, at least 1 20 feet in height, which stood near the gate in the pass of the high range which separates the Chekiang and the Fukien provinces. At Ningpo the junks are mostly built of the timber of this tree. Cryptomeria was also collected by Swinhoe 9 in the country inland from Amoy, and by Pere David in the interior of Fukien, where, he says, 10 it is a beautiful tree, becoming rare in the wild state, but existing still in the mountains at moderate elevations. Specimens u have been collected in other parts of China, but always, I believe, from planted trees. In Yunnan I only met with two trees, one (18 feet in girth) near a temple, and the other near a village. Cryptomeria apparently only occurs wild in China in the mountains of the Chekiang and Fokien provinces, between 25 and 29 N. lat., but may be found elsewhere when the interior of the country is better explored. In its native home in China the tree is subject to severe cold in winter, but the spring arrives suddenly with no late frosts, and the summer is much warmer than in England. In China the tree is called kuan-yin-sha ("goddess of mercy fir") in Yunnan, kung-cKio-sung ( " peacock-pine") in Szechuan, and sha ("fir") simply in Chekiang, where it shares the name with Cunninghamia, the timber of both trees being much used in the construction of houses and boats. CRYPTOMERIA IN JAPAN Both from an ornamental and economic point of view this is the most important 1 Petiver, Gazophylacium Natures et Artis ( 1702), tab. 6, fig. 3, " Cupressus chusancnsis, AHetis folio, from Chusan"; and Phil. Trans. xxiii. (1703), p. 1421, No. 70. 2 Plukenet, Amaltheum Botanicum ( 1705), text 69, tab. 386, fig. 3. 3 Amanitates Exotica ( 1722) p. 883. Kaempfer's figure is published in Icon. Kaempf. (1791), t. 48. 4 Flora Japonica, 2 65 (1784). 6 In 1776. Lamarck, Ency. Bot. ii. 244. 6 Collected at Macao, where the tree is only planted. Hook, Ic. Plant, vii. t. 668 (1844). 7 Sir Everard Home collected specimens (British Museum and Kew) in Chusan and near Woosung, and his notes say "from trees near tombs and joss-houses." 8 Fortune, Residence among the Chinese ( 1857), pp. 145, 184, 189, 256, 277, 412. 9 Specimen at Kew. 10 piantce Davidiana:, \. 291 (1884). 11 By Anderson, near Momien in Yunnan, and by Dr. Faber, on Mount Omei in Szechuan. Cryptomeria tree of Japan, as it is also the largest, and though it is now difficult to say how far its natural distribution extends, it has been planted everywhere from such a remote period, and grows so rapidly that it is now the most conspicuous tree in all those parts of Japan which I visited except in the island of Hokkaido. 1 I saw it wild in the primeval forests which cover the mountains on the frontier of the provinces of Akita and Aomori in the extreme north, near a station called Jimba, at an elevation of about 1000 feet, where the lower edge of the forests and more accessible valleys have already been denuded of their best timber. The Japanese Government have lately made a good road up one of the valleys, which enabled me to see the forest at its best under the guidance of their obliging foresters. The hills are here very steep, often with a slope of 30 to 40 , and covered on the north-east aspects with an almost pure growth of Cryptomeria, and though on the south-west aspects a few deciduous trees, such as maple, magnolia, oak, chestnut, and yEsculus were mixed with it, I saw no other conifer. This forest is not truly virgin, because from time to time trees have been cut for shingles and tub staves, which are made in the forest and carried out on men's backs as usual in the remoter parts of Japan. But in many places it was quite dense, and the undergrowth consisted largely of ferns, Aucuba, Skimmia, Hydrangea, and a variety of other shrubs, and tall, rank-growing herbaceous plants such as Spiraea and Rodgersia podophylla. The trees average in size 100 to no feet high by 2 to 3 feet in diameter, and are clean for half their length or more, in the denser parts of the forest. The largest trees which have been felled here do not exceed about 100 feet in timber length and about 4 feet diameter. The rings of one of 5 feet in girth which I measured showed 116 years' growth, of which about 87 were red heart-wood. Another close by was very flat-sided, measuring 3 feet 9 inches in diameter one way, and only 2 feet 9 inches the other, the centre on that side being only i foot from the nearest point of the bark. This tree was about 136 years old, over 100 years growth being red heart-wood. Many trees were more or less curved at the butt, and many others forked low down into two, three, or more stems. There were plenty of cones on the trees which had sufficient light, but a careful search did not discover a single self-sown seedling, all the young trees which were coming up and those not numerous being evidently suckers or growths from the stool. The dense layer of coarse, sour humus and half- decayed leaves and branches form a bed in which the seedling after germination cannot take root, but on the railway banks and other exposed surfaces not overgrown by dense grass young seedlings appeared and grew freely. Many of these trees had large climbers, such as Vitis Coignetiae, Schizophragma, and Wistaria, growing nearly to their tops. Plate 38, taken from a negative kindly given me by the Japanese Imperial Forest Department, shows the appearance of this forest. Plate 39 A, from the same source, shows a mature forest of Cryptomeria in the island of Shikoku. Plate 39 B shows the trunk of the tree and the manner of felling still adopted in Japan, cf. p. 137. The forester told me that the system adopted in this forest, now that it is 1 Mayr quotes Dr. Honda for the fact that the most southern locality where it grows wild is in the island of Yakushima, the northernmost of the Riu-Kiu islands, where in a dense forest at a high elevation it forms immense trunks.
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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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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.
Page 125 and 126: 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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