40 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



44660 to 44670— Continued. 



nuuieroiis. slender, short, and horizontally spreading, giving a lax pyram- 

 idal appearance to the tree. The leaves, usually dark green above, are 

 frequently more or less glaucescent. After trees are felled sprouts 

 spring from the old stumps and develop into new trees. This peculiarity 

 explains why this tree is still common in regions near densely populated 

 areas. 



" Cunninghamia is the Shan shu of the Chinese and is esteemed the most 

 useful of all their timber trees. The wood is fragrant, soft, and easily 

 worked ; and it is extensively employed in all branches of carpentry, in 

 general construction work, for pillars and planking, and as masts for 

 native boats. It is also the principal coffin wood of central and western 

 China, the fragrant properties being considered to act as a preservative. 

 In parts of western Szechwan. notably in the Chienchang Valley, and in 

 the valley of the Tung River a few days' journey west of Fulin, whole 

 forests of this tree were engulfed by an earthquake two or three centuries 

 ago. The wood of the.se trees is to-day mined and funiishes the most 

 valuable of all coffin material. From these logs, known as Hsmng-mu 

 (fragrant wood) or Yin-cJien-mu (long-buried wood), planks of huge size 

 can be cut, and a coffin made of them sells for a thousand to fifteen 

 hundred ounces of silver. This buried wood is pale brown, close in tex- 

 ture, but easily worked and pleasantly fragrant. Trees of this conifer 

 equaling in size those buried giants can not be found in China to-day 

 except as rare and isolated specimens associated with temples or shrines." 

 (Sargent, Plantae Wilsonianae, vol. 2, p. 51.) 



44666. LiQuiDAMBAR FORiiosANA Hauce. Hamamelidace^e. 



" From open land. Checkiang. November 14 to 30. 1916. Chinese name 

 Fing hsiang (fragrant maple)." {Bailie.) 



A handsome tree 20 to 40 m. (65 to 130 feet) in height, with a straight 

 trunk, a much-branched head, and, frequently, buttressed roots. The 

 leaves turn to a chestnut brown or red in the autumn and are retained 

 late into the winter. In juvenile plants the leaves are five lobed, while 

 in the adult trees the leaves are only three lobed and are smaller. In 

 Kiangsi the wood is used for making tea chests. This is one of the most 

 widely distributed trees in China, being particularly abundant in western 

 Hupeh. It is cultivated in .Japan. (Adapted from Sargent. Plantae 

 Wilsonianae, vol. 1, p. 42J^-) 



44667. PrATYCARYA sTROBiLACEA Sieb. aud Zucc. Juglandacese. 



" Collected on a mountain, Anhwei, November 14 to 30, 1916, by students? 

 of the univer.sity. Chinese name Hua kuo shu." (Bailie.) 



A bush, small tree, or rarely a tree up to 65 feet in height, with thick, 

 dark, and deeply furrowed bark. The branches are moderately thick and 

 form a rounded or flattened head. The leaves, which are 8 to 12 inches 

 long, are compo.sed of 9 to 17 sessile, doubly serrate leaflets; the fruiting 

 cones are oval, brown, and up to 1* inches in length. In Hupeh, China, 

 a black dye for cotton is prepared from the fruit. (Adapted from Bailey, 

 Standard Cgclopcdia of Horticulture, r-ol. .5, p. 2108, and from Sargent, 

 Plantae Wilsonianae, vol. 3, p. 180.) 



44668. QuERCus sp. Fagacese. Oak. 

 "From Kiangsi, November, 1916. Collected by Miss Holt." (Bailie.) 

 As many Chinese oaks have proved hardy and desirable trees in the 



United States, this may also prove of value. 



