Addisonia 27 



(Plate 206) 

 PINUS DENSIFLORA 

 Japanese Red Pine 



Native of Japan 



Family PinacUae; Pine Family 



Pinus densiflora Sieb. & Zucc. Fl. Jap. 2: 22. 1S42. 



This pine is found throughout Japan south of Yeso, but in a wild 

 state it seems to be confined to the central mountains, where, on 

 granite and volcanic debris, it forms small areas. Its cultivation 

 has been extensively practised by the Japanese, not only in its 

 normal condition, but it has been dwarfed and forced and trained 

 out of its natural shape into all sorts of odd and curious forms. 



Dr. Siebold introduced this interesting pine into Holland, at his 

 nursery at Leiden, in 1854. Its appearance in Great Britain dates 

 from about 1861, when seeds were brought direct from Japan by 

 Mr. James G. Veitch. It is cultivated in the United States to a 

 considerable extent, especially in some of its varieties, certain of 

 which have even more decorative value than the species itself. 



The Japanese have produced many varieties, one of the best of 

 which is known as the Tanyosho pine, the variety umhraculifera, 

 which forms a flat-topped tree of dwarf habit, and of great value 

 where dwarf or slowly growing evergreens are desirable. Another 

 variety is pendula, with drooping branches. Still other varieties 

 are : aurea, with yellow foliage ; alho-terminata, the leaf-tips yellowish 

 white; Oculis-draconis, the leaves marked with two bands of yellow, 

 giving the tufts as seen from above an appearance of alternate 

 yellow and green rings ; and variegata, in which the leaves are wholly 

 or partly yellowish. 



The specimen from which the illustration was prepared has been 

 in the collections of the New York Botanical Garden since 1906, 

 and was part of a large donation of evergreens made to that institu- 

 tion by Mr. Lowell M. Palmer. 



The Japanese red pine is said to attain a height sometimes of one 

 hundred feet in its wild state, but in cultivation it is usually of much 

 lower growth, fifteen to twenty feet being its common attainment; 

 its branches are spreading and form an irregular rather open head. 

 The branches are yellow and with a bloom. The winter-buds are 

 oblong-ovate, chestnut-brown. The acute slender leaves are in 

 pairs, of a bright bluish-green, and two and a half to five inches 



