SKETCH OF THE CONIFERS OF JAPAN. 291 



The number of the scales In tlie cone of P. Massoniana is com- 

 paratively smaller. The areolae are cousiderahly larger in those of 

 P. Massoniana, the umbo is more in the centre, and the ^vhoIe 

 cone more rugged and uneven ; the seeds in it are darker in colour, 

 the striation of the wing darker, and the test or shell somewhat 

 mottled. These are all the differences which we have observed in 

 herbarium specimens ; but in its native habitat the tree is said td 

 be distinguishable at a glance from P. Massoniana (with which it 

 is often found in company) by its straighter, more erect trunk, 

 covered with a smooth red-brown bark, without branches up to 

 t*o-thirds of its height, by its shorter and more horizontal 

 branches, and by the young shoots l)eing covered only towards 

 the point with small fine glaucous green leaves. The natives of 

 Japan, it seems, distinguish the trees by two names, signifying 

 respectively the red fir and the black fir. This is in favour of 

 their being distinct ; but, on the other hand, they distinguish 

 them also by other two names, which indicate close relation- 

 ship, namely, the male fir and female fir. Another point 

 in favour of their identity is, that they are found growing 

 indiscriminately together all over Japan ; but the variety 

 with the finer and shorter leaves is much less common in the 

 south than in the north, which is in accordance with what we 

 know of the growth of firs generally. In a fir wood one can always 

 tell the back-going trees by their shorter leaves. The infer- 

 ence, thex'efore, might be that this tree under less favourable con- 

 ditions assumes the form of P. densiflora, while under more favour- 

 able circumstances it is developed into P. Massoniana. But we 

 learn from Siebold that although P. Massoniana in general pre- 

 dominates in the ravines and grows there most vigorously, it also 

 grows (and we must assume that he means grows and preserves its 

 specific charactersj upon the mountains at a height of from 3000 

 to 3500 feet, although there it is less vigorous, and is reduced to 

 a dwarf tree. Mr. Veitch's opinion is that they are so much 

 alike that they can scarcely he separated for practical purposes. 



Leaving the question, therefoi'o, as it stood, it only remains io 

 say that whether it be species or variety, P. densiflora is found 

 over all the empire of Japan, but is most common in the north, 

 Siebold observed isolated specimens in the environs of Nagasald 

 of a height of 40 feet or more. 



In the forests of central Nipou it forms, along with P, Mas- 

 soniana^ extensive forests, and lofty trunks of more than ordinary 

 height characterise the slopes of the mountains, at 1000 to 2000 



