J74 JOURNAL OF TIIE ARNOLD ARBORETUM [vol. i 



In general the ligneous vegetation of the Liukiu Archipelago consists of a 

 littoral fringe of plants ■vsade-spread in warm-temperate and sub-tropi- 

 cal regions. On the mountains are found a comparatively small num- 

 ber of Japanese and a considerable number of endemic species. Evergreen, 

 mostly shining foliage, is a marked feature of the vegetation. The pres- 

 ence of Mangrove-like trees and the endemic Cycas rcvoluta Thunb. and 

 Pinvs luchuensis Mayr are the three plants which give character to the 

 vegetation. 



The Pine is the commonest tree on the islands from sea-level to high up on 

 the mountain, and is not only wild but has been abundantly planted. Here 

 and there, and especially on the highways leading from the old capital of 

 Shuri, some fine avenues of it may be seen. It is one of the most beauti- 

 ful of Asiatic Pines and is a very distinct and easily recognized species. The 

 bark is always gray, quite smooth on young trees, early becoming scaly and fi- 

 nally deeply fissured and cracked into plates of irregular size and shape. 

 The winter-buds are reddisli; the cone is chocolate-brown, small and not 

 very {persistent; the foliage is blackish green. At its best the Liukiu Pine 

 is a handsome tree fully a hundred feet tall with a straight trunk some ten 

 feet in girth and a crown of rather irregular shape often flattened on top. 

 The wood is of fair quality and is very resinous. The trunk hollowed out 

 forms the canoe which is commonly used by the fishermen. The Pine forms 

 pure woods with usually a dense undergrowth of evergreen shrubs and 

 low trees among which Tree Ferns, Palms, and Cycas revolida Thmib. are 

 conspicuous. This Pine, which was first recognized by H. Mayr in 1891, 

 grows also on the small islands of the Kawanabe group south of Yaku- 

 sliima but is not known elsewhere. It is a singular fact that so distinct a 

 species should have such a limited distribution. The only other Conifer 

 indigenous in the Liukiu Islands is Juniperus conferta Park, a maritime 

 species, that has a most remarkable geographical range. The Liukius rep- 

 resent the southern limit of its range and it is found northward on the 

 coasts to the shores of the Okhotsk Sea, ranging in all over twenty-three 

 degrees of latitude. Its centre of distribution is probably Idzu Oshima, 

 and the Boshu peninsula on the east coast of central Japan and doubtless 

 migratory wild fowl have carried it north and south, jx)ssibly the Japan 

 stream has also played a part in its distribution. This littoral Juniper 

 forms, on sandy strands and rocks, at and above tide-mark, low mats often 

 acres in extent. The color of the foliage is pea-green and the leading 

 si loots are red-brown; the ripe fruit is subglobose, flattened at the base. 



plum-colored and slightly pruinose. It remains for a long time on the plant 

 and I noticed seeds germinating while the fruit was still attached. It 



grows on several of the islands of the Karama group and also in Yagaji 

 Island some forty miles north of Naha. It is essentially a sand-loving 

 plant and in western lands should have great value as a ground cover in sea- 

 si i ore gardens and on sand-dunes. 



The well-known Cycas rcvoluta Thunb, is a feature everywhere in Okinawa 

 and Oshima and also grows on the Kawanabe Islands. It is spontaneous 



