378 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1952 



for both sugi and the hinoki or false Japanese cedar, Chamaecyparis 

 obtusa, also tried in plantations here. 



Another important group of native forest trees, especially high on 

 the mountains, is the podocarps, Podocarpus macrophyllus and P. 

 nagi. Chiefly above where these grow one usually finds a pure stand 

 of bamboo forming an extensive zone or a completely capping, almost 

 impenetrable thicket. We were grateful that we could follow the tim- 

 ber-cutters' trails kept open through these thickets and jungles by 

 constant use. Every little way we would find a layer of bark and 

 chips, marking where a tree had been cut, trimmed, and roughly 

 squared. From there it had been carried on the cutter's shoulder, 

 supported by the handle of his ax across his other shoulder, on down 

 the mountainside. His wife might carry down easily an apparently 

 staggering load of branches for fuel (pi. 5, right). This process of 

 selective cutting lets the forest grow continuously but results in its 

 steady deterioration through removal of the more valuable trees. 



Everywhere in these forests there are ferns, ranging from large tree 

 ferns, Cyathea fauriei and species of Alsophila, to the tiny delicate, 

 filmy ferns, Eymenophyllum and Trichomanes, growing in the murky 

 forest on wet soil or clinging to shaded tree trunks. Our presses were 

 loaded with these varied spore producers. There were mosses, too, 

 but we had to neglect these lowly forms in order to concentrate on the 

 higher plants. 



Grasses, of course, were less significant in the forests than in the 

 open but occurred everywhere, and we collected examples of many 

 species. Next to the coarse grasses already mentioned, in respect to 

 interest, however, rather than conspicuousness, come the several species 

 of Zoysia, a low, thick-growing, somewhat wiry grass of waste fields, 

 often found on high limestone headlands, where it cannot escape in 

 times of storm being drenched with saline spray. It forms a good du- 

 rable turf and is so desirable for planting on sterile soils at new housing 

 areas that it is being removed from some natural areas, such as Ban- 

 zamo, with detrimental effects. Members of this genus are frequently 

 sought for golf courses in America and may play an important part in 

 covering airfields between the runways, but it seems that better tech- 

 niques for its cultivation need to be developed. Perhaps our sending 

 back live samples to the U. S. Department of Agriculture may help this 

 cause. Another ground cover is Lepturus repens, found in thick stands 

 on the upper tidal shores or mud flats south of Naha and elsewhere. 

 Along with Sporobolus virginicus it performs the valuable role in 

 many parts of the world of helping reclaim land from the sea. Bam- 

 boos, contrary to expectation in this Far Eastern land, seem to play 

 a relatively small role in its economy. In Okinawa these woody 

 grasses were seen only here and there, except for the high mountain 



