46 CONIFERS AND TAXADS OF JAPAN 



where the Stanovoi Mountains approach the Sea of Okhotsk, southward through 

 the coast and Amur provinces to Korea and westward through Mandshuria, 

 where it reaches its southern limits of distribution in the Weichang, near Jehol, 

 in about longitude 117 E. and latitude 42. Over the greater part of this area 

 it is from all accounts a common tree. In Saghalien and Hokkaido it is abundant, 

 and it also grows on the most southern of the Kurile Islands. In Hondo it, like 

 all other Spruces, has a somewhat restricted distribution, but even here its range 

 possibly exceeds that of the other species. On this island the Yezo Spruce is known 

 to me personally from the mountains of the Nikko region southward to the moun- 

 tains of the Shinano province, and I also have material collected for me near Kan- 

 abu village in the Nara prefecture, Yamato province, latitude about 34. Very 

 probably it grows on the high mountains of Shikoku, although I did not meet 

 with it there, and possibly also in a few localities on the high mountains of Kyushu, 

 since the Japanese foresters report P. tricolor Mayr from this island, but these men 

 do not all clearly distinguish between the two species. Shirasawa, in his Icono- 

 graphie des Essences Forestieres du Japon, text, p. 20, states that the flat-leaved 

 Spruce grows on Chokai-san in Ugo province, but this is an error, as subsequent 

 investigations by Shirasawa and other forestry officials and by myself have proved. 

 Neither this nor any other Spruce is known in Hondo north of latitude 37 30', 

 and the mountains of the Nikko region represent very exactly the northern 

 limits of its range in Hondo. 



The finest trees of Picea jezoensis I saw were in Hokkaido, especially in the 

 moist rich forests round Rubeshibe and Oketo in Kitami province, where speci- 

 mens 50 m. tall, with trunks 6 m. in girth, are not rare, although the average is about 

 30 to 35 m. by 3 to 4 m. It is associated with broad-leaved deciduous trees such 

 as Ulmus japonica Sarg., Acer pictum Thunb., Fraxinus mandshurica Rupr., 

 Acanthopanax ricinifolius Seem., Populus Maximowiczii Henry, Cercidiphyllum ja- 

 ponicum S. & Z. and Betula Ermanii Cham.; and with Abies sachalinensis Mast, 

 and Picea Glehnii Mast. At its best in these rich moist forests the Yezo Spruce 

 is a truly magnificent tree, spire-like in habit, often glaucous in appearance, with 

 rather long and slender branches, which sweep downwards and outwards in a 

 graceful manner and are often slightly upturned at the ends. 



In Saghalien it grows with Abies sachalinensis Mast, and Larix dahurica, var. 

 japonica Maxim., but is less fond of the swamps than the Larch and is more 

 common with the Fir on the lower slopes of the mountains. The largest trees I 

 saw measured 26 m. in height and were 3 m. in girth of trunk, but in this more 

 northern land it is never so fine as in Hokkaido. 



In the Nikko region this Spruce is rare, though there is considerable of it near 

 Lake Yumoto, growing in company with Larix Kaempferi Sarg., Abies homolepis 

 S. & Z., Abies Veitchii Lindl. and Tsuga diversifolia Mast. On the middle slopes of 

 Fuji-san it is common and grows among the same kind of trees as at Nikko. On 

 Mt. Ontake and the neighboring mountains in the Shinano province it is plentiful 

 between 1600 and 2800 m. above the sea, growing with Tsuga diversifolia Mast., 

 Abies Veitchii Lindl., Pinus parvifiora S. & Z. and Pinus koraiensis S. & Z. On 

 the Tsubakura-dake, one of the granite peaks of the high mountains in Shinano 

 province, at about 2000 m. altitude, I saw many fine specimens of the Yezo Spruce, 

 but I did not see anywhere on the volcanic soils in Hondo trees comparable with 

 those met with in central and northern Hokkaido. In the Hondo forests the tree 

 averages from 25 to 30 m. in height and from 2 to 3 m. in girth of trunk. It is 

 usually much less spire-like in outline and generally very ragged in appearance. 



