the trees of great britain & ireland - Facsimile Books & other digitally ...
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130 The Trees <strong>of</strong> Great Britain and Ireland<br />
6. Var. spiralis?—A slender shrub, with leaves strongly falcate and twisted<br />
spirally by <strong>the</strong>ir free ends around <strong>the</strong> branchlets, which assume in consequence a<br />
corkscrew-like appearance. A specimen <strong>of</strong> this at Kew also bears some branchlets<br />
with normal leaves.<br />
7. Var. dacrydioides?—Leaves very closely set and very short (about \ inch long)<br />
There is a specimen at Kew <strong>of</strong> this form, ga<strong>the</strong>red by Maries and said to be wild.<br />
It is probably a depauperate form, originating in rocky, barren, exposed ground.<br />
8. Var. nana?—A dwarf, procumbent, dense, spreading shrub, with short<br />
acicular needles, closely set on <strong>the</strong> rigid branchlets and directed outwards. This<br />
form attains only 3 or 4 feet in height, and very <strong>of</strong>ten bears monstrous fasciated twigs.<br />
9. Some slightly variegated forms <strong>of</strong> Cryptomeria have appeared in cultivation ;<br />
in one <strong>the</strong> tips <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> branchlets are whitish ; in ano<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong> leaves are yellowish in<br />
colour.<br />
10. Var. elegans, Masters, Jour. Linn. Soc. (Sot.) xviii. 497 (1881); Cryptomeria<br />
elegans, Veitch, ex Henkel und Hochstetter, Synopsis der Nadelholzer, 2 69 (1865).<br />
A fixed seedling form. The juvenile foliage is retained throughout <strong>the</strong> life <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
tree, which bears <strong>the</strong> same relation to <strong>the</strong> type as Retinospora squarrosa does to<br />
Cupress^ls pisifera. It agrees in cones and in <strong>the</strong> anatomical structure <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> leaves<br />
with <strong>the</strong> typical form.<br />
I n habit this is ra<strong>the</strong>r a large bush than a tree. The leaves, while spirally arranged<br />
on <strong>the</strong> shoot as in <strong>the</strong> ordinary form, spread outwards and are not directed upwards.<br />
They are decurrent on <strong>the</strong> branchlets, linear, flattened, curving downwards, sharp-<br />
pointed, grooved on <strong>the</strong> middle on both surfaces, and are light green in colour,<br />
changing in late autumn and winter to a reddish bronze colour, which gives <strong>the</strong> tree<br />
a remarkable and handsome appearance. There is a dwarf form <strong>of</strong> this variety,<br />
Cryptomeria elegans nana, which is a low, dense bush with crowded leaves, changing<br />
in colour in <strong>the</strong> autumn like <strong>the</strong> ordinary variety, except that <strong>the</strong> pendulous tips <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> branchlets remain green.<br />
The origin <strong>of</strong> this remarkable form is obscure. In Japan, according to Siebold,<br />
it is known as to-sugi, i.e. " Chinese Cryptomeria," and is said to have been introduced<br />
from China. Kaempfer mentions a nankin^igi, introduced into Japan from China,<br />
cultivated on account <strong>of</strong> its beauty, which is possibly this variety.<br />
Cryptomeria elegans was introduced from Japan to England in 1861 by John<br />
Gould Veitch.4 The largest specimen we know occurs at Fota ; it is 42 feet high by<br />
4 feet 9 inches in girth. In Cornwall this variety grows to a <strong>great</strong> size, <strong>the</strong> tops <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> <strong>trees</strong> <strong>of</strong>ten bending down under <strong>the</strong> weight <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir branches and foliage; and<br />
<strong>the</strong> outer lower branches commonly take root and grow into independent <strong>trees</strong>, which<br />
form a colony round <strong>the</strong> parent stem. 5<br />
At Tregothnan <strong>the</strong>re is a very fine example (Plate 37) which measures 35 feet<br />
by 4 feet 6 inches, and at Killerton <strong>the</strong>re is ano<strong>the</strong>r almost equal in size. In <strong>the</strong><br />
1 Siebold, foe. cit. 32.<br />
3 Knight, Syn. Conif. ( 1850), p. 22.<br />
4 Veitch, Man. Coniferce, 1st ed. 218 (1881) :<br />
° Jour. Hort. Soc. xiv. (1892), p. 30.<br />
2 Carriere, Traiti Gin. ConiJ. ( 1867), p. 193.<br />
' Met with only in cultivation in neighbourhood <strong>of</strong> Yokohama."<br />
i<br />
Cryptomeria<br />
pinetum at Cowdray this form also grows very well, and it is perfectly hardy at<br />
Colesborne and in Yorkshire. At Poltalloch in Argyllshire it also attains large<br />
dimensions.<br />
IDENTIFICATION<br />
Cryptomeria resembles Sequoia and Araucaria Cunninghami in having leaves<br />
which are spirally arranged and markedly decurrent on <strong>the</strong> shoots. The awl-shaped<br />
leaves <strong>of</strong> Araucaria Crmninghami strongly resemble those <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ordinary forms <strong>of</strong><br />
Cryptomeria; but in <strong>the</strong> former <strong>the</strong>y always end in bristle-like points, whereas in <strong>the</strong><br />
latter <strong>the</strong>y taper to a blunt point. The subulate leaves <strong>of</strong> Seq^loia gigantea are<br />
closely appressed to <strong>the</strong> shoots in three ranks, with only <strong>the</strong>ir upper half free ;<br />
whereas in Cryptomeria <strong>the</strong>y are in five ranks, and are free from <strong>the</strong> shoots for <strong>the</strong><br />
<strong>great</strong>er part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir length.<br />
INTRODUCTION<br />
The tree is said by Siebold 1 to have been introduced into St. Petersburg by<br />
<strong>the</strong> overland route through Siberia, several years before Fortune sent it to England.<br />
The credit <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> introduction into England is, however, due to Captain Sir Everard<br />
Home, 2 who sent seeds to Kew from Chusan in 1842. Several seedlings were raised<br />
at Kew, which were kept in a greenhouse till 1847, ar>d were <strong>the</strong>n planted out; but<br />
<strong>the</strong>y never did well. One planted near <strong>the</strong> rockery was living in 1880, when it<br />
measured 26 feet high by 2 feet 3 inches in girth ; and ano<strong>the</strong>r stood for some years<br />
near <strong>the</strong> main entrance. Both <strong>the</strong>se <strong>trees</strong> have been cut down, and <strong>the</strong>re do not<br />
appear to be any survivors <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> first importation now at Kew or elsewhere.<br />
Fortune introduced <strong>the</strong> tree in quantity in 1844, when he sent seeds, apparently<br />
ga<strong>the</strong>red in Chekiang, from Shanghai to <strong>the</strong> Horticultural Society. The first tree<br />
planted in France was at Chaverney in 1844, and <strong>the</strong> second at Angers in 1847.<br />
All <strong>the</strong> old <strong>trees</strong> in this country and on <strong>the</strong> Continent are from Fortune's seeds, and<br />
belong consequently to <strong>the</strong> Chinese form.<br />
The variety Lobbii was introduced by Thomas Lobb in 1853 from <strong>the</strong> Botanic<br />
Garden <strong>of</strong> Buitzenborg in Java, where it had been sent from Japan in 1825 by<br />
Siebold. 3 It differs only slightly from <strong>the</strong> ordinary Japanese form. Siebold 4 states<br />
that he introduced <strong>the</strong> typical Japanese form into Leyden in 1861. John Gould<br />
Veitch introduced several kinds <strong>of</strong> Cryptomeria, as <strong>the</strong> result <strong>of</strong> his visit to Japan<br />
in 1860; but I have not been able to identify <strong>the</strong>se, and according to H. J. Veitch, 5<br />
<strong>the</strong> typical Japanese form was first introduced by Maries in 1879. Probably <strong>the</strong>re<br />
are no <strong>trees</strong> <strong>of</strong> this kind in England older than this date. The introduction <strong>of</strong><br />
variety elegans has been already given above. (A. H.)<br />
DISTRIBUTION IN CHINA<br />
Cryptomeria was discovered in China in 1701 by J. Cunningham, who found it in<br />
1 Siebold, loc. cit. 48.<br />
2 John Smith, Records <strong>of</strong> Kew Gardens ( 1880), p. 289; Sir W. J. Hooker, Guide to Keio Gardens, 1 847, p. 28,<br />
1850, p. 14.<br />
3 Siebold, loc. cit. 48. 4 Ibid. 5 1. 6 Jour. Hort. Soc. xiv. (1892), 30.