220 TAXODINE^ 



travel, — ^he had not better equipped himself with some 

 smattering of knowledge, at least, of tree lore and 

 plant life. Then something more tangible might have 

 remained for ever and ever by him, something deeper, 

 something more lasting, than a mere recalling from 

 those early days' wanderings of the collective features 

 of certain sceneries and a few impressionist memories 

 of country-sides passed through. Eheu ! fugaces 

 labuntur anni. Alas ! the days that are gone, and 

 the years that have flown by. 



Cryptomeria Japonica, var. Elegans. — As the 

 Cupressus Pisifera has its juvenile form of variety 

 called Squarrosa, so has the Cr3^ptomeria also its 

 jugend form — that is to say, its primordial, or first 

 leaves, do not change to adult form. The difference 

 between these two is, in reality, so manifest that it 

 would not be worth mention were it not for the fact 

 that on some occasions I have noticed that the casual 

 observer, who knows one by name, is rather prone 

 to apply this to the other. The briefest comparison 

 between the tw;o side by side dispels any doubt on 

 the subject for ever and aye. While the branchlets 

 of the C. Squarrosa are composed of frondose sprays, 

 from the little branchlets of the C. Elegans the 

 primordial leaves spread outwards at right angles 

 on all sides. While on the subject of leaves it may 

 be noticed that the leaves of the C. Elegans are rather 

 reflexed than incurved, and so of reverse shape to 

 those of the Cryptomeria Japonica. 



No one can find fault with the high-sounding name 

 Elegans, except on those not infrequent occasions 

 on which its various stems break away from the 

 perpendicular, and produce a sprawling, and, at 

 variance with its description, inelegant effect. 



The tree, however, stands pruning well, and a 

 little judicious lopping will often relieve the situation. 



