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86 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland Farther north, according to Maximowicz, 1 it extends throughout the territory of the lower Amur and the coast province facing the Sea of Ochotsk, reaching its northern limit in the interior in the Stanovoi mountains about latitude 55 50', and on the coast at Ajan, lat. 56 27'. Schmidt 2 says that thick forests of Picea ajanensis occur in the lower Amur and in the coast territory. A mountain at 1000 feet in the Amgun valley was clothed with a thick mossy wood of this spruce, in the shadow of which snow still lay on the 3Oth May. On the crest of the Bureja range it occurs as a low prostrate shrub. It descends very seldom to the river banks. Middendorff also notes that it is confined to the hills on the coast of the Sea of Ochotsk. Occasionally it grows on swampy flats in Amurland. Schmidt describes the bark as being moderately rough and divided into generally 6-angled plates, about an inch in diameter and £ to i line in thickness ; and that the form and colour of the leaves are very variable, their points being either acute or obtuse. In the island of Saghalien, in its south-western part, there is a coniferous forest composed of Picea ajanensis and Abies sachalinensis, which clothes the slopes of the mountains up to 800 feet on the coast, and higher in the interior, where even the lofty crests are covered with dark forests of these two species. In the Kurile Isles 3 this species is confined to the three islands north of Yezo, namely Kunashiri, Shikotan, and Etorofu, reaching its northern limit in the last named. In Shikotan it forms with Abies sachalinensis a dense mixed forest, which in habit and height and cover of the ground strikingly resembles the coniferous forests at moderate elevations in Germany. The cones borne by the tree in this island are, however, small in size, and the tree itself does not attain its maximum dimensions. In Yezo, Mayr reports that he has seen trees 130 feet in height, and considers reliable the reports of the Japanese foresters that it occasionally attains even 160-200 feet. It occurs in all the mountains of Yezo, only reaching the coast in the west of the island, where it is found in cold, marshy localities immediately behind the dunes, being only separated from the sea by a growth of Rosa rugosa and shrubby Quercus dentata. The important forests of it lie in the western and central mountains of Yezo, and also in the high ranges of Kitami, Kushiro, and Nemoro, where it forms mixed woods with the Saghalien silver fir and Picea Glehnii. INTRODUCTION We do not know that any plants of the continental Ajan spruce have been grown in Europe. John Gould Veitch visited Hakodate in 1860, and sent home specimens and seeds of a weakly form of the Yezo Picea ajanensis, which was described by Lindley 4 as a 1 Maximowicz, Primitice Fierce Amurensis, 261, 392 (1859). See also Regel, Tentamen Fierce Ussuriensis, 1 36 (1861). 2 Schmidt, " Reisen in Amurland und Saghalien," in Mem. Acad. Imp. Sc. St. Petersburg, VII. series, xii. No. 2, pp. 15, 20, 63, 98 (1868). 3 Mayr, Inc. cit. p. 102. 4 Card. Chron. 1 861, p. 22. This is Picea ajanensis, var. microsperma, Masters, Card. Chron. 1880, i. 115. Picea distinct species, Abies microsperma. Plants raised from the seed " turned out to be unsuitable for the climate of this country." 1 This form, according to Mayr, and so far as I can judge myself, can hardly rank even as a variety, and is not in cultivation at the present time. Maries 2 visited Yezo in 1879 and sent home specimens, now preserved in the Kew Herbarium, and seeds of the true Picea ajanensis from that island; and young trees should accordingly be in cultivation in this country. This plant was kept separate by Messrs. Veitch at first, under the name Abies yezoensis. Maries considered the Yezo spruce to be quite distinct in habit and aspect from the two spruces which he had seen on Fujiyama (Alcockiana and hondoensis). Mayr informed me last year that the Yezo spruce was not introduced into Europe until 1891 ; and that most of the trees on the Continent passing under the name of Picea ajanensis belong to Picea hondoensis. The specimens which have been sent me from old trees of reputed P. ajanensis in England also belong to that species. (A. H.) On account of the heavy floods which occurred in July 1904, I did not get far enough north in Hokkaido to see this tree at its best, but in the State forests of Shari, Kutami, and Kushiro, it occurs in great masses, and is one of the principal economic products of the island. I saw it thinly scattered in forests of deciduous trees between Sapporo and Asahigawa, where it was of no great size, and in the forest round the volcanic crater-lake of Shikotsu in the south-east of Hokkaido it formed, here and there, nearly pure forests of small extent, mixed more or less with Picea Glehnii and A bies sachalinensis, at an elevation of 1000 to 2000 feet. The vegetation in these forests was quite unlike anything that I saw in Central Japan, the ground being covered with a dense layer of humus, and in the more shady places two or three species of Pyrola were abundant. Daphne, Gaultheria, Ledum, and other plants not seen elsewhere occurred, with curious terrestrial orchids and many ferns. The trees rarely exceeded 80 feet in height by 4 to 6 feet in girth, but higher up near the lake I measured one as much as 100 by 9 feet. The general appearance of the tree is very like that of P. sitchensis, though I did not notice that the roots became buttressed, which is probably only the case in wet soil. The natural reproduction is good, but the seedlings grow slowly at first and seemed to thrive best in shade. The Japanese name is Eso-Matsu. TIMBER The wood of this tree is soft, but probably as good as that of other spruces. I passed the night at a factory in the forest where it was being cut up into thin slices for export to Osaka, where large quantities are used for making matchboxes. It is also employed for boat masts and other purposes, and is worth in Tokyo about rod. per cubic foot. On account of its softness, lightness, and fineness of grain, 1 Kent, in Veitch's Man. Conifenc, lot. cit. 2 See Veitch's Man. Conifers, ed. i. p. 72 (1881).
88 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland it is largely used in Japan for chip-braid, a peculiar Japanese industry, which has lately attained considerable importance, the export for 1903 amounting to no less than 1,363,000 yen equal to about .£140,000. This braid is mainly used for making hats and bonnets, but it is also woven into floor-matting, and as shown at the St. Louis Exhibition is both ornamental and cheap. There are many different varieties of chip-braid, some of which are dyed of different colours, and others are plaited with a mixture of silk. It is exported in bundles of 50 to 60 yards long and i to i^ inches wide, and is valued according to quality at is. to 6s. per bundle. The best are made by mixing chips of Populus tremula and Picea ajanensis. ( H. J. E.) Picea 89 PICEA HONDOENSIS, HONDO SPRUCE Picea hondoensis, Mayr, Monograph der Abietineen der Japanisches Retches, 5 1, t. iv. fig. 9 (1890) ; Shirasawa, Iconographie des Essences Forestieres du Japan, text 20, tab. v. figs. 1-22 (1900). Picea ajanensis, Hooker, Bot. Mag. t. 6743 (1884), and of most writers. Abies ajanensis, Fisch., var. japonica, Maximowicz, Iter secundum ( 1862). A tree, attaining 80 feet in height in Hondo, the main island of Japan. Bark dark grey, peeling off in small roundish scales and leaving light-coloured spots on the trunk. Branchlets shining, glabrous, yellow in the first year; but becoming reddish brown in the second year, and retaining the red colour in succeeding years till the scaly bark begins to form. The free portions of the pulvini are directed forwards, and on the upper side of the branchlets are enlarged transversely at their bases and show two channels where they become decurrent on the stem ; they are shorter than in Picea ajanensis, and on older branchlets tend to disappear. Buds like those of Picea ajanensis, but opening with greenish leaves. Leaves as in that species, but slightly shorter. Cones, red when young, yellowish when ripe, slightly curved, oblong, tapering to each end, about 2 inches long by f inch thick, erect on terminal younger branchlets; scales membranous, oval, broader proportionately to their length than in P. ajanensis, with denticulate erose margins ; bracts minute, concealed, oval lanceolate, denticulate, gradually tapering to an acute apex. Seed with a short wing (less than twice the length of the seed). The description just given enumerates the characters, chiefly those of the bark, shoot, and cones, on which Mayr relies to distinguish the Hondo spruce from the true Picea ajanensis. Picea hondoensis, as grown in this country, where it is usually called Picea ajanensis, assumes a broadly pyramidal outline, the main branches being rigid and directed either upwards or horizontally. In sunshine the branchlets turn their tips upwards, exposing to view the pale surface of the leaves. The arrangement of the leaves on lateral branchlets is the one normal in flat-leaved spruces, i.e. the upper side of the branchlet is densely covered with leaves, which have their apices directed forwards, while on the lower side of the branchlet the leaves part into two sets, directed outwards at right angles and leaving the twig bare beneath. All the leaves direct their stomatic pale surfaces away from the light, so that these look towards the ground. The young cones are bright crimson, and make the tree highly ornamental in spring. IDENTIFICATION Picea Alcockiana, in which the leaves are conspicuously white on the dorsal surface, is often confounded in gardens with Picea hondoensis ; but these two species are readily distinguished as follows : I N
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»f rees Great Britain Ireland BY H
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Page 7 and 8: PREFACE THE United Kingdom offers a
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Page 11 and 12: The Trees of Great Britain and Irel
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Page 29 and 30: SOPHORA Sophora, Linnaeus, Gen. PI.
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188 The Trees of Great Britain and
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2OO The Trees of Great Britain and
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a 7" KSrJi «£^«~ **». . "" ^ '"
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INARCHED BP;ECH AT ASIIRIDGE TLATE
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13KECII WOOD AT SLINHON A ru 6.
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BEECH AT NEWBATTLE Pi .ATE 8.
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I BEECH AT GORDON CASTLE TLAI-K 10.
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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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