214 A HANDBOOK OF CONIFERS 



in this country use the wood to some extent, and mistakes have 

 arisen through the substitution of the wood of the deciduous 

 cypress {Taxodium distichum) for this species. Care should 

 therefore be taken to keep these woods separate from each other. 

 The yellow cypress succeeds weU in Britain, even in cold 

 situations and on poor gravelly soils. It also grows weU on thin 

 soil overlying hmestone. On good soil and in sheltered positions 

 growth is correspondingly faster. The late Mr. H. J. Elwes^ had 

 great confidence in the tree becoming a valuable forest tree in 

 Britain for planting on poor dry soils, and he planted 10,000 trees 

 on his own estate for the production of timber. As an ornamental 

 tree its value is well known. 



Cupressus obtusa, Koch. (Fig. 44.) 



HiNOKI. 



ChamaecjT^aris obtusa, Siebold and Zuccarini ; C. breviramea, Maxi- 

 mowicz ; C. pendiila, INIaximowicz ; Retinispora obtusa, Siebold and 

 Zuccarini ; Thuya obtusa, ]\Iasters. 



A tree 80-120 ft. high, and 10-12 ft. in girth in Japan, with a 

 straight trunk more or less buttressed at the base. Bark red- 

 dish brown, shed in long, narrow strips. Branches close set, 

 spreading or horizontal, reddish. Branchlet systems flattened, 

 tripinnate, sUghtly drooping at the tips. Leaves closely pressed, 

 of two sizes, the lateral pairs much the larger, boat- shaped, iV in. 

 long, blunt at the apex or with a minute point ; the smaller pairs 

 about h in. long, triangular, with a thickened apex, all promin- 

 ently hned below with white X -shaped markings produced by a 

 coating of wax. Leaves on the branchlets oblong, unequal, the 

 lateral \ in. long, the facial | in. long, with spreading, blunt 

 points. Cones stalked, ^ in. in diameter, orange-brown when 

 ripe ; scales 7-10, the outer surface depressed with a minute 

 ridge in the centre. Seeds 2-5 on each scale, | in. long, winged. 



The following are the principal varieties in cultivation : — 



Var. albo spica. 



Young shoots cream-coloured, gradually changing to pale 

 green in summer. 



Var. aurea. 

 Young shoots golden yeUow. 



Var. compacta. 

 A dwarf dense form with very short branches and branchlets. 



Var. Crippsii. 



A very beautiful golden-leaved form, the branchlets in dense 

 flattened sprays. 



^Loc. cit. V, 1198 (1910). 



