30 FOREST FLORA OF JAPAN. 



had been discovered, and mature fruit had not been seen before ; and from these trees I 

 obtained later from Professor Miyabe a supply of seeds large enough to make this Maple 

 common in the gardens of this country and of Europe, in which there is every reason to believe 

 that it will flourish. 



In the forests of Yezo eight other species of Maple occur. Among them, growing only in 

 the extreme north and on the high mountain-slopes, are a variety of our Mountain Maple, Acer 

 spicatum, so like the New England form of this common tree that it is difficult to distinguish 

 the two plants, and Acer Tataricum, var. Ginmila, a common Manchurian tree, not rare in 

 northern Japan, where it grows in low wet ground, near the borders of streams. This little 

 tree is now well established in American gardens, in which it might be seen more often 

 to advantage, as its flowers are very fragrant, and the leaves of few trees take on more 

 splendid autumnal colors. In Yezo, too, Acer capillipes has been found ; this is a species 

 with small racemose flowers, and thin delicate nearly circular lobed leaves, deeply cut on the 

 margins. On Mount Hakkoda, in northern Hondo, where Acer capillipes is extremely abun- 

 dant at elevations of 2,000 to 3,000 feet above the sea, we found it in October, growing as a 

 stout bush or bushy tree, twelve or fifteen feet in height, with delicate canary-yellow leaves, 

 and secured a supply of ripe seeds. 



In Yezo, Acer Japonicum and Acer palmatum are both common ; these species, next after 

 Acer pictum, are the most generally distributed Maples in Japan, and the only species which 

 the Japanese cultivate at all commonly. They are both small trees, rarely, if ever, exceeding 

 a height of fifty feet, and both, as is well known, vary remarkably in the size, form, and 

 cutting of their leaves. A few of the varieties of Acer palmatum, particularly the one on 

 which the leaves are divided into narrow lobes, and the one with pendulous branches, are 

 favorites in Japan, where few of the numerous and monstrous forms of this tree, with which 

 we have become familiar of late years in this country, are seen outside of nursery-gardens 

 with foreign connections. Of these two trees the autumn foliage of Acer Japonicum appears 

 the more brilliant ; and some individuals of this species which we saw in October, high up 

 on Mount Hakkoda, were as beautiful in color as a good American Scarlet Maple. These 

 two trees have not proved very satisfactory in this country, where they have a way of dying 

 in summer without apparent cause. This is due, perhaps, to the fact that nearly all the plants 

 brought here have been raised from degenerate nursery-stock, obtained in or near the treaty 

 ports ; and it will be interesting to watch the behavior here of plants raised from seed gath- 

 ered in the forests of Yezo. For us these Maples have the advantage of retaining their leaves 

 later in the autumn than our species, which are bare of foliage before the Japanese trees 

 assume their brilliant colors ; and this is true of many other Japanese and Chinese plants, like 

 Ampelopsis tricuspidata and Spiraa Thunbergii, for the autumn in eastern Asia is fully a 

 month later than it is in this country. 



Acer carpinifolium, which is occasionally seen in our gardens, is evidently extremely rare 

 in Japan. There are a few plants in one of the temple gardens in Nikko, and I saw a single 

 wild specimen hanging over the bank of a stream in the mountains above Fukushima, on the 

 Nakasendo, and was fortunate in obtaining from it a good supply of seeds. In Nikko, Acer 

 carpinifolium is a handsome round-topped tree, perhaps thirty feet tall. It is Avell worth 



