28 CONIFERS AND TAXADS OF JAPAN 



fluenced Japanese art more than any other tree as it is a familiar subject on their 

 paintings, wood-carvings and embroideries. The great highways of Old Japan, 

 like the Tokaido, which stretched from Kyoto to Tokyo, and the Oshu-kaido, 

 from Tokyo to Aomori, were lined with rows of this Pine, the remains of 

 which may be seen to-day. In the grounds of the Daimyos' palaces this tree was 

 much planted and in those of Nagoya castle some fine trees are still growing. In 

 Tokyo there is a picturesque group of this Pine outside the temples in Shiba Park, 

 and in the grounds and on the inner wall of the moat which bounds the Emperor's 

 palace there are many fine specimens. In many places in Japan are famous trees of 

 this Pine which the people make long pilgrimages to see, one might say to worship. 

 Such, for example, are the extraordinary tree at Karasaki on the shore of Lake 

 Biwa, a description and picture of which appeared in the Gardeners' Chronicle, 

 ser. 3, XV. 366, fig. 44 (1894), and the Ship Pine in front of the Kofukuji Temple at 

 Nara. This latter is about 28 m. tall, 6 m. in girth of trunk and the lower branches, 

 which form the prow and deck of the boat, are 50 m. long. The largest trees I 

 saw were planted on the coast between Kochi and Aki in Tosa province, Shikoku, 

 and are growing in sea-sand and gravel, and at flood tides and when high seas pre- 

 vail the boles are washed by the waves. These trees are fully 30 m. tall, from 6 

 to 7 m. in girth of trunk and the blackish gray bark is fissured into thick oblong 

 and rhomboidal plates. 



When growing thickly together in forests, as on Tanega-shima, and protected 

 from the wind this Black Pine can behave like an ordinary Pine tree and form a 

 nearly straight trunk, spreading branches and a more or less oval or flattened 

 crown. On Tanega-shima these trees are from 20 to 30 m. tall and in girth of trunk 

 from 2 to 4 m. On the islets at Matsushima it grows from 3 to 20 m. tall and from 

 1 to 3 m. in girth of trunk. The blackish gray bark is fissured into elongated 

 plates of irregular size and shape. The branches are variable in size, length and 

 disposition and the shoot is yellowish brown. The terminal buds are characteristic 

 and readily distinguish the species, being white or grayish white, ovoid to ovoid- 

 cylindrical and pointed, with fimbriate scales matted together, with their 

 subulate ends free. The leaves are dark green, in pairs, stout, twisted, densely 

 crowded on the branches and spreading, from 6 to 18 cm. long, finely serrulate 

 and pungent, with stomata on both surfaces and medial resin-ducts. The cones 

 are subterminal, clustered and spreading on short stalks, and are firmly attached to 

 the branches, symmetrical ovoid to ovoid-conic in shape, from 4 to 6 cm. long 

 and nut-brown in color; the apophysis is flat or convex with a transverse ridge 

 and the umbo is usually armed with a minute prickle. The wood is similar in 

 appearance to that of P. densiflora S. & Z., but is coarser grained, more brittle, 

 more resinous and of considerably less value for all purposes except as fuel. 



Under long cultivation in Japanese gardens several distinct forms have de- 

 veloped, some dwarf, some pendulous in habit, others with variegated or other- 

 wise abnormal foliage. Another name for this Pine in Japan is O-Matsu (Male 

 Pine). 



Mayr speaks of hybrids between P. Thunbergii and P. densiflora S. & Z. and 

 I inquired about them in Japan, but all I could learn was that in nurseries of 

 seedlings, raised from one or other of these Pines, plants intermediate in appear- 

 ance were occasionally found. I saw none, however. In Japan P. Thunbergii is 

 used as the stock in grafting all the other native Pines and their varieties. Mayr 

 mentions ten different forms of P. Thunbergii as cultivated in Japan; of these the 

 f. pendula Mayr, which makes an ugly tree, f. variegata Mayr and f. monophylla 



