152 PODOCARPUS NERIIFOLIUS. 



the size of a small cherry with a dark purplish pericarp enclosing a small 

 seed with a bony testa. 



Podocarpus Nageia, R. Brown, ex. Mirbel in Mem. du Musee Paris, XIII. 75 

 (1825). Siebold and Zuccarini, Fl. Jap. II. 71, t. 135 (1842). Endlicher, Synods. 

 Gonif. 207 (1847). Parlatore, D. C. Prodr. XVI. 508. Franchet et Savetier, 

 Enum. PI. Jap. I. 474. Masters in Journ. R. Hort. Soc. XIV. 243. Sargent, 

 Forest Fl. Jap. 77. 



Nageia japonica, Gaertner, Carpol. I. 191, t. 39 (1788). Carriere, Traite Conif. 

 ed. II. 635 (1867). Gordon, Pinet. ed. II. 180. 



Jap. vernacular, Nagi. 



Podocarpus Nageia, like the preceding species, is of Japanese 

 origin and first became known to science through Kjempfer who 

 accurately described and figured it in his "Amoenitates" under the name 

 of Laurus julifera. In 1*788 the German botanist, Gaertner, gave it 

 generic rank as Nageia japonica, in which he is followed by Carriere 

 and others, the character chiefly relied on being its broad leaves 

 arranged in pairs, certainly a very distinct one but which it possesses 

 in common with three or four other species of Malayan origin. By 

 Endlicher all these were made sectional under Podocarpus to which 

 the organs of fructification sufficiently conform. 



Podoca)*pus Nageia has been assiduously cultivated by the Japanese 

 from time immemorial with whom it is a great favourite, especially a 

 variety in which the leaves are marked with broad white stripes, and 

 this they use for dwarfing and pot culture. Professor Sargent remarks 

 that "the real beauty of the tree is only seen when it has become 

 large and old and the trunk covered with its peculiar smooth purple 

 bark. A grove of these trees on the hill behind the Shinto temple 

 at Nara is one of the most interesting spots in Japan."* According to- 

 Carriere, it was introduced into European gardens in 1840 ; it is now but 

 seldom seen, and in Great Britain it is always more or less injured 

 if not killed by severe winter frosts, a fact indicative of a sub-tropical 

 origin. 



Podocarpus neriifolius. 



A much-branched shrub or small tree with the branchlets ridged and 

 furrowed by cortical outgrowths decurrent from the bases of the leaves. 

 "Leaves scattered, approximate, narrowly lanceolate, acute, coriaceous, 

 dark green above, pale and slightly glaucous beneath, tapering below 

 into a very short petiole. Staminate flowers axillary, sessile, solitary, 

 cylindric, an inch long, arising from a cup-shaped scaly involucre ; 

 anthers numerous, imbricated, two-celled. Ovuliferous flowers solitary, 

 axillary, pedunculate. Receptacle of the fruit oblong, fleshy, with an 

 oblong depression at the top becoming deep purple, and slightly glaucous 

 when mature. Seed obovate, glaucous green before maturity." Botanical 

 Magazine, t. 4655. 



Podocarpus neriifolius, Don in Lambert's Genus Pinus, ed. II. Vol. II. 

 p. 22 (1828). Endlicher, Synops. Conif. 215. Hooker, W. in Bot. Ma- i oc c u 

 Carriere, Traite Conif. ed. II. 661. Parlatore, D. C. Prodr. XVI. 514. Brandis 

 Forest Fl. Ind. 541. Hooker til, Fl. Brit, Ind. V. 649. 



Eng. Oleander-leaved Podocarp. 



* Forest Flora of Japan, Ioc. clt. supra. 



