1147 



from sea level up to 2000 m. altitude, but does not 

 occur where the winters are severe. It is abundant in 

 Fukien, Hunan, and Hupeh, and more especially so in 

 western Szechwan where it is partial to red sandstone 

 and forms pure forests. The trunk is mast-like; the 

 branches numerous, slender, short, and horizontally 

 spreading, giving a lax, pyramidal appearance to the 

 tree. The leaves, usually dark green above, are fre- 

 quently more or less glaucescent. After felling, 

 sprouts spring from the old stumps and develop into 

 new trees. This peculiarity explains why this tree 

 is still common in regions near densely populated 

 areas. Cunninghamia is the Shan shu of the Chinese, and 

 is esteemed the most useful of all their timber trees. 

 The wood is fragrant, soft, and easily worked; and is 

 extensively employed in all branches of carpentry, in 

 general construction work for pillars and planking, 

 and as masts for native boats. It is also the prin- 

 cipal coffin wood of central and western China, the 

 fragrant properties being considered to act as a pre- 

 servative. In parts of western Szechwan, notably in 

 the Chienchang valley of the Tung river, a few days' 

 journey west of Fulin, whole forests of this tree were 

 engulfed by an earthquake two or three centurie-s ago. 

 The wood of these trees is today mined and furnishes 

 the most valuable of all coffin material. From these 

 logs, known as Hsiang-mu, 'fragrant wood', or Yin-ehen-mu, 

 'long-buried wood 1 , planks of huge size can be cut, 

 and a coffin made of them sells for a thousand to 

 fifteen hundred ounces of silver. This buried wood is 

 pale brown, close in texture, but easily worked and 

 pleasantly fragrant. Trees of this conifer, equalling 

 in size those buried giants, cannot be found in China 

 today except as rare and isolated specimens associated 

 with temples or shrines." (C. S. Sargent, Plantae 

 Wilsonianae, vol. 2, p. 51-52, 1914.) 



Dioseorea sp. (Dioscoreaceae. ) 44588. Yam tuber from 

 Ogbomosho, Nigeria, West Africa. Presented by Dr. 

 George Green. The natives plant yams following a good 

 shower in the summer or dry season (November to March) . 

 Such a storm usually comes about the end of January. 

 The yams are cut cross-wise into sections about three 

 inches thick, and these sections are cut longitudinal- 

 ly. Only 1 piece is planted, about 4 inches deep, in 

 each of the hills or heaps, which are about 3 feet in 

 diameter, 2 feet in height, and 4 feet apart. A tuft 

 of grass is placed on top of the hill to protect the 



