542 



ABIES VEITCHII. 



Abies Veiteliii, Lindley in Gard. Chron. 1861, p. 23. Murray, Pines and Firs 

 of Japan, 39, with figs. (1863). Carriere, Traite Conif. ed. II. 307. McNab in 

 Proceed. R. Irish Acad II. ser. 2., 686, tig. 13. Masters in Gard. Chron. XIII. 

 (1880), p. 275, with fig. ; Journ. Linn. Soc. XVIII. 515, t. 20 ; and Journ. R. 

 Hort. Soc. XIV. 196. Beissner, Nadelholzk. 457, with fig. Mayr, Abiet. des Jap. 

 Reiches, 38, Tafel II. fig 4. 



A. nephrolepis, Maximowicz in Bull. Acad. Imp. St. Petersb. X. 485 (1866). 



Picea Veitchu, Gordon. Pinet. ed. II. 226 (1875). 



Finns selenolepis, Parlatore, D. C. Prodr. XVI. 427 (1868). 



Eng. Veitch's Silver Fir. Germ. Veitch's Weisstanne. Jap Shira-biso Riu-sen. 



Abies Veiteliii is an alpine tree rarely descending below 5,000 feet 

 elevation ; it occurs on all the higher mountains of central Japan 

 from Sikoku northwards to about 39 N. lat. north of which it 

 has not been seen ; it forms in some places pure forests of 

 considerable extent ; in others it is mixed with Picea ajanensis, P. 

 polita, or Tsuya divcrsifolia. If the A. nephrolepis of Maximowicz 

 rightly belongs to this species, it is also common on the mainland 

 of Manchuria in the neighbourhood of the coast. 



Dr. Mayr distinguishes two forms of Abies Veitchii', the type, in 

 which the apical end of the cone-bract is exserted and bent downwards, 

 and the Nikko variety, a local form with smaller cones, the cone- 

 bracts of. which do not protrude beyond 

 the scale.* The typical form was 

 discovered in 1860 on Fuji-yama by 

 the late John Gould Yeitch after 

 whom it was named by Dr. Lindley. 

 Dr. Mayr observed that about every 

 third year this Fir produces abundance 

 of cones whilst in the intervening years 

 cones are scarce, which may account 

 for the failure of Mr. Yeitch to 

 procure seeds. In 1879 Maries was 

 more successful, and young plants were 

 subsequently widely distributed. 



In Great Britain Abies Veiteliii 

 has proved hardy and is growing freely 

 in many soils and situations ; its 

 slender habit, its bright green and 

 white foliage, and its beautiful cones 

 which are in this country also produced 

 freely in some years even on young 

 trees,! render it an ornamental tree for 

 the lawn and for places where the 

 larger Abies are unsuitable. It is also 

 hardy in the north-eastern States of 

 America where it was in cultivation 

 under the unpublished name of Abies 

 japonica some years previous to its introduction into Europe, and where 

 it is looked upon as "an exceedingly beautiful tree in its young state."; 



* Abietineen des Japanischen Reiches, p. 39. 



t Sometimes, indeed, too freely, and if the superabundant cones are not picked oft, the 

 tree perishes from excessive fertility. 

 Garden and Forest, Vol. X. p. 511. 



Fig. 140. Cone of Abies } r eitchii. 



