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198 The Trees <strong>of</strong> Great Britain and Ireland<br />
A shrub, with a straight trunk, bare <strong>of</strong> branches below. The branchlets, numerous,<br />
long, flexile, cord-like, unbranched or only slightly branched, are produced in<br />
irregular fascicles <strong>of</strong> 5 to 20 or more at irregular intervals along <strong>the</strong> branches. They<br />
are slender and pendent, and bear leaves distantly placed in 4 rows in decussate pairs.<br />
The leaves, broadly decurrent at <strong>the</strong> base and long acuminate at <strong>the</strong> apex, spread out<br />
from <strong>the</strong> branchlets at an acute angle. Cones are occasionally borne, which are like<br />
those <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> type. 1 There is a specimen at Kew <strong>of</strong> a plant raised from seed <strong>of</strong> this<br />
variety, which is ordinary Thuya orientalis. It was sent from <strong>the</strong> Botanic Garden at<br />
Turin by Mr. Hanbury in 1860.<br />
There are several forms <strong>of</strong> this variety, differing in habit and length <strong>of</strong> leaves;<br />
in one <strong>the</strong> branchlets are tetragonal.<br />
This shrub was first observed by Thunberg in Japan, and specimens were<br />
collected near Yokohama by Maximowicz. It was also met with by Fortune in<br />
China, and has been raised in Europe.<br />
2. Var. decussata.<br />
Retinospora juniperoides, Carribre, Conif. ed. 2, p. 140.<br />
A low shrub, with erect stems and branches, bearing foliage like that <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
seedling. The leaves are in 4 rows in decussate pairs, spreading, and resembling<br />
those <strong>of</strong> a juniper, except that <strong>the</strong> points are not prickly. They are greyish green<br />
in summer, changing to brown in winter.<br />
3. Var. Meldensis.<br />
Biota Meldensis, Lawson, in Gordon, Pinetum, 3 7.<br />
A small tree with ascending flexible branches. It is a transition form, bearing<br />
acute acicular spreading leaves like that <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> seedling, and occasionally leaves <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> adult character. The leaves are bluish green, changing to brown in <strong>the</strong> winter.<br />
This plant was raised from seeds <strong>of</strong> Thuya orientalis ga<strong>the</strong>red in <strong>the</strong> cemetery <strong>of</strong><br />
Trilbardoux near Meaux in France; and for a long time was supposed to be a cross<br />
between Thuya orientalis tt\.&Juniperus virginiana.<br />
4. Var. intermedia.<br />
Biota orientalis intermedia, Carriere, Man. des PI. iv. 322.<br />
This is also a transition form. It is a shrub with elongated pendent branchlets,<br />
<strong>the</strong> ramifications <strong>of</strong> which arise from all sides <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> axis, not remaining in one plane.<br />
There are two kinds <strong>of</strong> leaves, those towards <strong>the</strong> ends <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> branchlets resembling<br />
<strong>the</strong> adult foliage <strong>of</strong> Thuya orientalis, while those on older parts are spreading,<br />
arranged in decussate pairs, oval-lanceolate, decurrent at <strong>the</strong> base, and acute at <strong>the</strong><br />
apex. In Var. funiculata, if it is in reality distinguishable, <strong>the</strong>re appears to be a<br />
larger proportion <strong>of</strong> adult foliage.<br />
Many o<strong>the</strong>r varieties have been described: some <strong>of</strong> peculiar habit, as gracilis<br />
and pyramidalis, which are fastigiate ; o<strong>the</strong>rs with coloured or variegated foliage, as<br />
aurea, argenteo-variegata, aureo - variegata. Var. ericoides <strong>of</strong> this species closely<br />
1 At Barton, a shrub <strong>of</strong> this variety produced cones, which had very long hooked processes on <strong>the</strong> scales (Bunbury,<br />
Arboretum Notes, I S3)-<br />
Thuya 199<br />
resembles <strong>the</strong> variety <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> same name belonging to Thuya occidentalis ; <strong>the</strong> latter<br />
is slightly whiter on both surfaces <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> leaves.<br />
DISTRIBUTION, ETC.<br />
Thuya orientalis occurs wild in <strong>the</strong> mountains <strong>of</strong> north China. It is common<br />
in <strong>the</strong> hills west <strong>of</strong> Pekin, where Fortune 1 observed <strong>trees</strong> <strong>of</strong> a large size, 50 or 60<br />
feet in height. Elsewhere in China it is only met with planted in cemeteries and<br />
temple grounds. It has been known to <strong>the</strong> Chinese from <strong>the</strong> earliest times as <strong>the</strong><br />
Poh or Peh tree, and is mentioned in <strong>the</strong>ir classical books; it was planted around<br />
<strong>the</strong> graves <strong>of</strong> feudal princes, and its wood was used for making <strong>the</strong> c<strong>of</strong>fins <strong>of</strong> <strong>great</strong><br />
<strong>of</strong>ficials. The tree was introduced into Japan from China at an early period,<br />
probably like so many o<strong>the</strong>r Chinese plants, by <strong>the</strong> Buddhist missionaries. Japanese<br />
botanists are all agreed that it is not indigenous in Japan. Various o<strong>the</strong>r regions<br />
have been mentioned as being <strong>the</strong> home <strong>of</strong> Thuya orientalis, as Siberia, Turkestan,<br />
Himalayas, etc.; but specimens collected in <strong>the</strong>se countries are undoubtedly from<br />
cultivated <strong>trees</strong>. The tree is mentioned by Gmelin in his Flora Siberica, i . 182<br />
(1747); but only as occurring between Kiachta and Peking. Ledebour 2 denies its<br />
existence in any part <strong>of</strong> Siberia.<br />
Thuya orientalis was first grown in Europe at Leyden, some time before 1737,<br />
when Linnaeus 3 described <strong>the</strong> plant as Thuya strobilis uncinatis squamis reflexa<br />
acuminatis. Royen, who sent a specimen to Linnaeus, mentions <strong>the</strong> species with<br />
considerable details in his account 4 <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> plants that were cultivated at that time in<br />
<strong>the</strong> Botanic Garden at Leyden; but his promised account <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> history <strong>of</strong> its<br />
introduction apparently never was published. It is possible that it was raised from<br />
seed sent home by <strong>the</strong> Dutch from Japan, as Kaempfer, who travelled in that<br />
country from 1690 to 1692, collected specimens <strong>of</strong> Thuya orientalis which are still<br />
preserved in <strong>the</strong> Natural History Museum at South Kensington.5 Seeds were also<br />
soon afterwards sent to Paris by <strong>the</strong> missionaries in north China. 6 The earliest<br />
account <strong>of</strong> it in England occurs in a letter dated February i, 1743, from <strong>the</strong> Duke<br />
<strong>of</strong> Richmond to Collinson, as follows: " I am sorry to find by Miller that I am not<br />
likely to have <strong>the</strong> Chinese Thuya. I own, if it belonged to anybody that would sell<br />
it, I should be foolish enough to <strong>of</strong>fer ten guineas for it, because it is <strong>the</strong> only one<br />
in England that can match that which I have already." It was cultivated early by<br />
Miller 7 in <strong>the</strong> Physic Garden at Chelsea.<br />
Thuya orientalis never attains in this country any considerable dimensions. It<br />
ripens good seed; and at Kew, on a wall near <strong>the</strong> Director's <strong>of</strong>fice, may be seen a<br />
1 Yedo and Peking, 307, 382 (1863). Fortune supposed that <strong>the</strong> wild tree in north China was distinct from that<br />
cultivated near Shanghai'; but <strong>the</strong>re is no doubt that <strong>the</strong> <strong>trees</strong>, which attain a <strong>great</strong> size in <strong>the</strong> hills west <strong>of</strong> Peking, are ordinary<br />
Thuya orientalis.<br />
2 Comment, in Gmelini Fl. Sibericam, 60(1841). 3 Hart. Cliff. 449 (1737).<br />
1 Flora Leydensis ProJromus, 8 7 (1740).<br />
6 I have seen <strong>the</strong>se specimens. See Salisbury, Coniferous Plants <strong>of</strong> Kaempfer, \r\Jour. Science and Arts, ii. 313 (1817).<br />
Kaempfer does not mention <strong>the</strong> plant in his Amamitates Exotics.<br />
0 See Miller, Card. Diet. ed. 6 (1752), and ed. 8 (1768), snt> " Thuya."<br />
? Cf. Aiton, Hoi-t. Kem. iii. 371 (1789).