THE JAPAN CEDAR. 53 



close together, incurved or sickle-shaped, compressed on the 

 sides : of a four-sided, rhomboidal shape, running downwards 

 on the under side, and with a sharp, projecting mid rib, from 

 a quarter to three quarters of an inch in length, bright green, 

 and quite smooth. Branches, erect or horizontal, spreading, 

 lateral ones dividing alternately into numerous branchlets, 

 thickly clothed with leaves. Cones, about the size of a large 

 cherry, mostly standing singly, but sometimes in clusters on the 

 extremities of the branchlets, and without any footstalks, mostly 

 erect, and of a globular shape, but not very compact or solid. 

 Scales, numerous, rather loose, of a dull brownish red colour, 

 and with rough fringed edges. Male flowers on the same tree, 

 intermixed with the young cones, at the extremities of the 

 branchlets, and of a small oval or oblong shape, in large loose 

 clusters. Seeds, ripen in September and October. 



A tall pyramidal tree, with a straight stem, from 60 to 100 

 feet high, and four or five feet in diameter, with a brownish red 

 bark. Wood, compact, very white, soft, and easily worked, 

 and much used for various purposes, particularly for cabinet 

 work in Japan. 



It is found plentifully about Shanghae and other northern 

 parts of China, in the form of avenues and groves, and where 

 no doubt it has been introduced from Japan. Professor Thun- 

 berg, who in the year 1784 first published an account of this 

 tree under the. name of Japan Cedar, states that it is found both 

 spontaneous and planted on the mountains of Nagasaki, and 

 elsewhere on the southern mountainous districts of Japan, 

 between an elevation of from 500 to 1200 feet, generally growing 

 in damp soils on a basaltic substratum. 



Dr. Siebold, in his ' Flora Japonica,' calls it a majestic tree, 

 well deserving the name of Cedar ; that it grows from 60 to 100 

 feet high, and four or five feet in diameter, with a pyramidal- 

 shaped head, and rather erect or horizontal branches ; that it 

 occurs in great abundance on the three great isles of Japan, and 

 most probably on the smaller ones, and that a tenth part of the 

 forests which cover the skirts of the mountains between 500 and 



