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198 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland A shrub, with a straight trunk, bare of branches below. The branchlets, numerous, long, flexile, cord-like, unbranched or only slightly branched, are produced in irregular fascicles of 5 to 20 or more at irregular intervals along the branches. They are slender and pendent, and bear leaves distantly placed in 4 rows in decussate pairs. The leaves, broadly decurrent at the base and long acuminate at the apex, spread out from the branchlets at an acute angle. Cones are occasionally borne, which are like those of the type. 1 There is a specimen at Kew of a plant raised from seed of this variety, which is ordinary Thuya orientalis. It was sent from the Botanic Garden at Turin by Mr. Hanbury in 1860. There are several forms of this variety, differing in habit and length of leaves; in one the branchlets are tetragonal. This shrub was first observed by Thunberg in Japan, and specimens were collected near Yokohama by Maximowicz. It was also met with by Fortune in China, and has been raised in Europe. 2. Var. decussata. Retinospora juniperoides, Carribre, Conif. ed. 2, p. 140. A low shrub, with erect stems and branches, bearing foliage like that of the seedling. The leaves are in 4 rows in decussate pairs, spreading, and resembling those of a juniper, except that the points are not prickly. They are greyish green in summer, changing to brown in winter. 3. Var. Meldensis. Biota Meldensis, Lawson, in Gordon, Pinetum, 3 7. A small tree with ascending flexible branches. It is a transition form, bearing acute acicular spreading leaves like that of the seedling, and occasionally leaves of the adult character. The leaves are bluish green, changing to brown in the winter. This plant was raised from seeds of Thuya orientalis gathered in the cemetery of Trilbardoux near Meaux in France; and for a long time was supposed to be a cross between Thuya orientalis tt\.&Juniperus virginiana. 4. Var. intermedia. Biota orientalis intermedia, Carriere, Man. des PI. iv. 322. This is also a transition form. It is a shrub with elongated pendent branchlets, the ramifications of which arise from all sides of the axis, not remaining in one plane. There are two kinds of leaves, those towards the ends of the branchlets resembling the adult foliage of Thuya orientalis, while those on older parts are spreading, arranged in decussate pairs, oval-lanceolate, decurrent at the base, and acute at the apex. In Var. funiculata, if it is in reality distinguishable, there appears to be a larger proportion of adult foliage. Many other varieties have been described: some of peculiar habit, as gracilis and pyramidalis, which are fastigiate ; others with coloured or variegated foliage, as aurea, argenteo-variegata, aureo - variegata. Var. ericoides of this species closely 1 At Barton, a shrub of this variety produced cones, which had very long hooked processes on the scales (Bunbury, Arboretum Notes, I S3)- Thuya 199 resembles the variety of the same name belonging to Thuya occidentalis ; the latter is slightly whiter on both surfaces of the leaves. DISTRIBUTION, ETC. Thuya orientalis occurs wild in the mountains of north China. It is common in the hills west of Pekin, where Fortune 1 observed trees of a large size, 50 or 60 feet in height. Elsewhere in China it is only met with planted in cemeteries and temple grounds. It has been known to the Chinese from the earliest times as the Poh or Peh tree, and is mentioned in their classical books; it was planted around the graves of feudal princes, and its wood was used for making the coffins of great officials. The tree was introduced into Japan from China at an early period, probably like so many other Chinese plants, by the Buddhist missionaries. Japanese botanists are all agreed that it is not indigenous in Japan. Various other regions have been mentioned as being the home of Thuya orientalis, as Siberia, Turkestan, Himalayas, etc.; but specimens collected in these countries are undoubtedly from cultivated trees. The tree is mentioned by Gmelin in his Flora Siberica, i . 182 (1747); but only as occurring between Kiachta and Peking. Ledebour 2 denies its existence in any part of Siberia. Thuya orientalis was first grown in Europe at Leyden, some time before 1737, when Linnaeus 3 described the plant as Thuya strobilis uncinatis squamis reflexa acuminatis. Royen, who sent a specimen to Linnaeus, mentions the species with considerable details in his account 4 of the plants that were cultivated at that time in the Botanic Garden at Leyden; but his promised account of the history of its introduction apparently never was published. It is possible that it was raised from seed sent home by the Dutch from Japan, as Kaempfer, who travelled in that country from 1690 to 1692, collected specimens of Thuya orientalis which are still preserved in the Natural History Museum at South Kensington.5 Seeds were also soon afterwards sent to Paris by the missionaries in north China. 6 The earliest account of it in England occurs in a letter dated February i, 1743, from the Duke of Richmond to Collinson, as follows: " I am sorry to find by Miller that I am not likely to have the Chinese Thuya. I own, if it belonged to anybody that would sell it, I should be foolish enough to offer ten guineas for it, because it is the only one in England that can match that which I have already." It was cultivated early by Miller 7 in the Physic Garden at Chelsea. Thuya orientalis never attains in this country any considerable dimensions. It ripens good seed; and at Kew, on a wall near the Director's office, may be seen a 1 Yedo and Peking, 307, 382 (1863). Fortune supposed that the wild tree in north China was distinct from that cultivated near Shanghai'; but there is no doubt that the trees, which attain a great size in the hills west of Peking, are ordinary Thuya orientalis. 2 Comment, in Gmelini Fl. Sibericam, 60(1841). 3 Hart. Cliff. 449 (1737). 1 Flora Leydensis ProJromus, 8 7 (1740). 6 I have seen these specimens. See Salisbury, Coniferous Plants of Kaempfer, \r\Jour. Science and Arts, ii. 313 (1817). Kaempfer does not mention the plant in his Amamitates Exotics. 0 See Miller, Card. Diet. ed. 6 (1752), and ed. 8 (1768), snt> " Thuya." ? Cf. Aiton, Hoi-t. Kem. iii. 371 (1789).
2OO The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland young tree which originated from a seed probably carried there by a bird from a tree in the gardens. In the garden at Hampton Court, Herefordshire, there are a pair of fine specimens about 40 feet high, and about 7 feet round at the base, where they divide into several stems which have been formed into an arch over the path, and in most old gardens trees of 25 to 35 feet may be found, but, like T.japonica and T. occidentalis, I it must be looked on as an ornamental shrub rather than a timber tree. | (A. H.) Printed by R . & R. CLARK, LIMITED, Edinburgh. \
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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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32, The Trees of Great Britain and
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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.
Page 127 and 128: SOI'HORA AT CAMBRIDGE PLATE 16.
Page 129 and 130: ARAUCARIA FOREST IN CM ILK I'l.MT.
Page 131 and 132: ARAUCARIAS AT BEAUFORT
Page 133 and 134: MAIDENHAIR T liEK AT FKOGMOKF. PLAT
Page 135 and 136: TULIP TREE IN NORTH CAROLINA 1'LATE
Page 137 and 138: TULIP TREE AT KILLERTON PLATE 26.
Page 139 and 140: PLATE SERVIAN SPRUCE IN BOSNIA 28.
Page 141 and 142: MENZIES' SPRUCE AT BEAUFORT PLATE 3
Page 143 and 144: YEW AVENUE AT MIDIIURST PLATE 32.
Page 145 and 146: i '*m i t /n b &; y'JM i /Jk, - •
Page 147 and 148: •• *-' YEW AT WHITTIKGHAME PLAT
Page 149 and 150: CRYPTOMERIA FOREST IN NORTH JAPAN 1
Page 151 and 152: CRYPTOMEKIAS AT IMAICHI I'l.ATE 40.
Page 153 and 154: CRYPTOMERIA AT HEMSTED PLATK 42.
Page 155 and 156: PYRUS. PLATE 44.
Page 157 and 158: SORB TREE AT ARLEV PLATE 46.
Page 159 and 160: 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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