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90 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland
Picea liondoensis.— Leaves flat, with bands of stomata confined to the dorsal
surface. On the lower surface of lateral branchlets the twig is bare, with the leaves
directed outwards at right angles.
Picea Alcockiana.—Leaves quadrangular in section, with lines of stomata on the
ventral surface, in addition to the bands of stomata on the dorsal surface. On the
lower surface of lateral branchlets the twig is not quite bare, and the leaves are
directed forwards at an acute angle.
Picea kondocnsis, Picea ajancnsis, and Picea sitchensis have been distinguished,
so far as leaves and branchlets are concerned, in the key to Section Omorica. The
cones of these three species are much alike. Those of Picea sitchensis, however,
have scales oblong in outline, with their upper edge scarcely emarginate or
erose; the bracts are large and visible between the scales towards the base of the
cone. In the other two species the scales of the cones are oval with erose margins,
while the bracts are minute, concealed, and differently shaped.
The cones of Picea Alcockiana differ considerably from those of the three
preceding species. Their scales are rounded, being nearly semicircular in outline,
with the upper edge almost entire or only minutely denticulate ; and their outer
surface is markedly striated.
DISTRIBUTION
Picea hondoensis is confined to the central chain of mountains in the main
island of Japan, occurring at altitudes above 4000 feet. Shirasawa (loc. cit.}
mentions as localities, Fuji, Mitake, Novikura, Sirane to Nikko, Chokarsan to Ugo,
etc.; and says that in the lower levels it is accompanied by Tsuga diversifolia, and
ascends to 8000 feet in company with Abies Veitchii. Mayr states that on Fuji it
is accompanied by Picea bicolor (Alcockiana), both occurring in mixed woods with
Larix leptolepis and Abies Veitchii. Farther north, Picea polita joins the two
spruces just named; and all three reach their northern limit in the high mountains
of Iwashiro at 38 lat. Its southern limit is 35 lat.
Elwes saw very little of this tree in Japan, but near the top of the Wada-toge
pass there were some small spruces growing at about 4500 feet elevation, which he
believes to have been this species. Tohi is the Japanese name.
INTRODUCTION
Picea hondoensis was introduced in 1861 by John Gould Veitch. It was dis
tributed as Abies Alcoquiana, an unfortunate circumstance, due to the fact that the
seeds of the two spruces growing on Fujiyama (Picea hondoensis and Alcockiana)
were both collected for Mr. Veitch by natives and were mixed together. Dr.
Masters cleared up the question as to the distinctness of these two species in an
article in the Gardeners' Chronicle? in which, however, he retained the name Picea
ajanensis for the spruce, which Mayr afterwards separated as Picea hondoensis. If
1 Card. Chron. 1 880, i. 115, and ii. 427.
Picea 91
Mayr's view of the specific distinctness of Picea hondoensis and Picea ajanensis be
upheld, most of the specimens cultivated in this country under the latter name (and
many also incorrectly labelled Alcockiana) must be renamed as Picea hondoensis.
The best specimen we have seen in England is a tree at Hemsted in Kent,
which was planted by the Earl of Cranbrook in 1887, and, when measured by Elwes
in 1905, was 44 feet high.
There is one at Benmore, near Dunoon, the property of H. S. Younger,
Esq., which Henry measured in 1905 as 52 feet by 4 feet 4 inches, about twenty-five
years planted.
At Fota, Co. Cork, there is a fine tree which, in 1904, Henry found to be
44 feet by 4 feet 3 inches. (A. H.)