THE JAPANESE UMBRELLA TREE 221 



SCIADOPITYS VeRTICILLATA (JAPANESE UmBRELLA 



Tree). — 



To garnish the story \^-ith here a streak 

 Of Latin, and there another of Greek, 



Whittier. 



It would be hard to describe the sensations of an}^ 

 one who had undergone a long practical acquaintance 

 with the well-known trees of our homely woodlands 

 at a first sight of this extraordinar3'-looking tree. 

 After a stare of wild surprise he might begin to wonder 

 which of the two, man or tree, had been transported 

 to another planet. 



On being told its name, and asked either to pro- 

 nounce, spell, or construe it, — if his education had 

 not run on classical lines and in Latin or Greek 

 grooves, — I can well imagine that his eyes would open 

 still wilder. Like Tenn3'son's ocean-shell, he might 

 so regard it as yet another miracle of design to which 

 learned men had given a clums}^ name. What would 

 be more interesting to hear is the opinion he would 

 hazard as to its affinity, and among what tribe of 

 trees he would place it. Probably the majority of 

 votes — I am not referring to the closer student, but 

 to the man in a hurry, who has either boldly to jump 

 to a conclusion, pronounce it, or remain mute — 

 would be cast in favour of the Pine, some sort of Pine 

 — ^he might have ventured opinion — with thicker 

 and coarser leaves. 



If it is looked at a little more closely there will be 

 found a light-brown stem, growing darker as it gets 

 older. At intervals along it, from i to i J inches, the 

 branchlet appears to swell out into a sort of flower- 

 vase shape, and ends in a crown-like summit. From 

 the tips of these summits grow in whorls the fraudulent 

 make-believe leaves — for things are not always what 

 they seem — and these growths, although they look 

 like leaves and perform the functions of leaves, are 



