68 CONIFERS AND TAXADS OF JAPAN 



have the tops broken off and I noticed that occasionally a new leader was formed. 

 The height of the trees, though comparatively low, is remarkably even, and I con- 

 clude that strong winds account for it. The average girth of trunk of living trees 

 in these forests is from 6 to 8 m.; the largest I measured were 10 m. in girth. Of 

 dead and rotting stumps I measured several from 16 to 18 m. in girth. The trunk 

 is perfectly straight, buttressed at the base and clean of branches for at least half 

 the height of the tree. The bark is reddish brown, becoming gray where fully ex- 

 posed, never more than 2.5 cm. thick and seldom as much, shallowly fissured and 

 firm, but eventually peeling in thin narrow flakes. The branches are relatively thin, 

 spread horizontally, seldom exceed 6 m. in length and form a more or less dense, oval 

 crown. The weak, inner branchlets are shed in the same manner as are those of 

 Sequoia gigantea Decaisn. Indeed these two trees in appearance and general char- 

 acteristics strongly resemble one another. The wood of the Cryptomeria on Yaku- 

 shima is fragrant, pale brown, becoming darker and even reddish in the centre of 

 the tree. Often it is beautifully spotted and figured and such wood is especially 

 prized for house decoration and furniture making. That the wood is durable in 

 wet climates is proved by the condition of fallen trees which strew the forest floor. 

 On such trees, which the foresters said had been felled 80 years before, the wood 

 was still perfectly sound a couple of inches below the moss-clad exterior. On 

 fallen stems and decaying butts a younger generation of Cryptomeria is growing 

 from small seedlings to trees 26 m. tall and 6 m. in girth of trunk. The Cryptomeria 

 does not sucker nor sprout from stools, but perpetuates itself only by seeds. In 

 the soil of the forest floor the seedling Cryptomeria does not appear able to survive 

 the struggle with its vigorous competitors, and I saw only on fallen trees and 

 old stumps the Cryptomeria successfully renewing itself unaided by man. On 

 every fallen log and tree stump seedlings of Trochodendron aralioides S. & Z. may 

 be seen associated with those of Cryptomeria. The two trees in these forests, 

 it would seem, have a curious predilection for one another. They grow upon the 

 same old dead stump or trunk in close embrace to ripe old age with the Crypto- 

 meria towering above its neighbor and shielding it from wind and storm. 

 On Yaku-shima the Cryptomeria does not form pure forests, being always found 

 growing with other coniferous and dicotyledonous trees, but it is the dominant tree 

 in the forest. Its altitudinal range is from 150 to 1900 m. and it seems to be at its 

 best between 600 and 1200 m. 



The Cryptomeria is the most generally useful and popular tree in Japan and 

 has been planted there from time immemorial. Apart from the forests on Yaku- 

 shima, where the evidence is indisputable, it is difficult to say where it is growing 

 in an unquestionably wild state. The Japanese themselves consider it indigenous 

 on certain mountains in Tosa province, Shikoku, and in the northeast corner of 

 Ugo province in extreme northern Hondo, and there is no real reason for questioning 

 this opinion. When in Tosa I did not have time to visit the Cryptomeria forests, 

 but I did visit those in Ugo, and as far as I could judge they are spontaneous. Mr. 

 Elwes, who visited these forests in 1904 and has published an account of them, is 

 also of this opinion. These Ugo forests are situated some 1500 miles north of those 

 on Yaku-shima and about 900 miles north of those in Tosa, so the distribution of the 

 wild forests of this tree is very remarkable. The Ugo forests have been known for 

 over 300 years and formerly were much more extensive than at the present time. 

 In their southern and middle parts they are of pure Cryptomeria, but at the north 

 this tree is mixed with Thujopsis dolabrata, var. Hondai Mak., and finally it gives 

 way to pure forests of the latter. The total area covered with Cryptomeria is said 



