19:^0] WILSON, PIIYTOGEOGRAPIIICAL SKETCH OF FORMOSA 35 



not a tall tree, but lias a short thick trunk and massive branches and is never 

 upright in habit, but inclines usually at an acute angle. Its timber is very 

 valuable and the Chinese from early times have sought it out for making 

 coffins. Another disappearing type is Keteleeria Davidiana Bcissn. which 

 is known from the forests near Herinbi, a day*s journey west of Taihoku, 

 and also from the south of the island. It is now a rare tree, and old stumps 

 I saw testify to the large dimensions it once attained; of living trees I 

 saw none in Formosa comparable in size with those I am familiar with in 

 Hupeh and Szech'uan provinces of China. In Nanto and Pinan prefec- 

 tures rinuH taiwancnsis Hay. and P. morrisonicola Hay. both descend to 

 this zone, but they really belong to higher altitudes. The first delights in 

 open grassy country where it often forms small woods, but P. viorrisonicola 

 Hay. is confined to rocks and cliffs where it is not crowded by broad-leaved 

 neighbors. The only other Conifer that rightly belongs to this zone is 

 Pseudotsuga WUsoniana Hay. of which I saw only one tree. I was told of 

 its growing in Karenko prefecture but where I saw it was on the border of 

 Shinchiku and Toyen prefectures on the edge of hostile Savage territory. 

 The tree I saw and gathered cones from was a shapely specimen of no great 

 size. This species is probably identical with P. sinensis Dode wdiich grows 

 in Kweichou and Yunnan provinces of southwest China. 



Rich as is the vegetation on the lower mountains the forests of Formosa 

 reach their highest perfection between altitudes of 1800 and 3000 in. In 

 this belt mixed with l)road-leaf, mostly evergreen, trees Conifers prevail. 

 At the lower level Conifers are rare but higher; they almost entirely super- 

 sede the broad-leaf trees. The two Chamaecyparis (C. formosensis Mat- 

 sum, and C ohtusa vav, formosana Hay.), Taiwania cry piomerioides Hay., 

 Cunninghamia Konishii Hay. arc confined to these forests, and Pinus 

 taiwanensis Hay. P. morrisonicola Hay. and Juniperus jormosana Hay. 

 though found at lower levels are most abundant here, and so is P. Armandi 

 Franch. although this ascends to nearly 3800 m. The Spruce (Picea 

 morrisonicola Hay.) and the Hemlock (T. chinensis Fritz.) are common in 

 the upper limits of these forests. The loftiest tree is the Taiwania which 

 rears its small mop-like crown well above all its neighbors. The average 

 height of this tree is from 150 to 180 ft., but specimens exceeding 200 ft. are 

 known. The trunk is sometimes as mnch as 30 ft. in girth, quite straight 

 and bare of branches for one hundred to one hundred fifty feet. It is a 

 strikingly distinct tree, singularly like an old Cryptomeria and both trees 

 suggest gigantic Lycopods. In the dense forests the crown is small, dome- 

 shaped or flattened, the branches few and short and one wonders how so 

 little leafage can support so large a tree. When the top is broken by 

 storms, the lateral branches assume an erect position. In the more open 

 forest the branches arc massive, wide-spreading and the crown oval or 

 flattened, and on small trees the branchlcts are often pendent. The 

 Taiwania sheds its small inner branches as do Cryptomeria, Cunning- 

 hamia and Sequoia. 



The Big Tree of Formosa is Chamaecyparis fonnoscnsis Matsuni. found 



