418 



Canadiar} Forestry journal, October, 1919 



CHINESE TREES GROWN IN CANADA 



B^ A. Cosens in Toronto Globe. 



Many of the trees, grown in this city for 

 shade or ornament, have bee nimported from 

 other countries. The European maples, the 

 Norway and Sycamore, border our streets more 

 frequently than do the native species. The 

 Horse-chestnut from Greece and the Lombardy 

 or Steeple Poplar from far Afghanistan are 

 among the commonest of our ornamental trees. 

 Clumps of Austrian Pine and of Norway Spruce 

 are often planted as wind-breaks or for decora- 

 tive purposes. In old-fashioned gardens and m 

 cemeteries the Asiatic Weeping Willow was in 

 the past a favorite tree for cultivation. 



Among the ailens that have found homes in 

 this country are two from China. The anoma- 

 lies associated with that country are sufficient 

 alone to arouse curiosity concerning these for- 

 ' eigners, but apart from their origin the trees 

 themselves are interesting. 



The Maiden-hair Tree. 



The Ginkgo or Maiden-hair trees were first 

 cultivated by Buddhist and Taouist priests, who 

 found them growing wild in the mountains of 

 Western China, and planted them in the Chin- 

 ese temples. This was done so universally that 

 it is apparent the trees were not introduced 

 solely for decorative purposes, but because of 

 some religious significance attached to them by 

 the priests. Whatever this original stimulus 

 may have been it has proven powerful enough 

 to inaugurate an extensive cultivation of the 

 trees in a country where every available foot of 

 land is of necessity utilized. 



Japanese priests brought the trees from China 

 into their own country and planted them in the 

 vicinity of their temples and shrines. In that 

 country the wealthier class are now using them 

 as ornamental trees. From Japan specimens 

 were imported into England, where they found 

 a home in Kew Gardens. The first Ginkgo was 

 introduced into this continent in the year I 784 

 by Alexander Hamilton. As well as in the 

 southern part of Ontario, the tree is grown suc- 

 cessfully in the Eastern States as far north as 

 Eastern Massachusetts and Central Michigan. 

 Beautiful Foliage. 



The Maiden-hair tree is a very appropriate 

 name fort he Ginkgo, as it has the wedge-shaped 

 leaves and the typically forking veins of the 

 Maiden-hair fern. Like this fern, the tree has 



a beauty of foliage peculiarly its own. The 

 leaves, unfolding in the spring, soon assume a 

 deep, lustrous green hue, which is retained by 

 them throughout the summer. Even in autumn 

 they are still attractive, but the color scheme 

 is quite different. At that season the green of 

 the leaves is changed uniformly to a bright, 

 pleasing yellow. 



After the fall of the leaves, the tapering top 

 and vertical position of the upper branches be- 

 come more apparent, and give the tree a close 

 resemblance to the common introduced Poplar, 

 the Steeple or Lombardy. It is, however, much 

 nearer akin to the cone-bearing trees, the 

 spruces and pines of our Canadian woods, but 

 of a nobler and more ancient lineage. 

 Of Long Descent. 



The Ginkgo is now the only survivor of its 

 race, but its ancestors, in the far past, num- 

 bered many species, and formed dense forests 

 through the dim aisles of which roamed the 

 gigantic land reptiles of that age. Its fern- 

 like leaves indicate a relationship to even a 

 more remote type of flora, the beautiful fern 

 allies of the coal period, and continue the 

 hereditary line of the tree back almost to the 

 dawn of plant life. 



The Ginkgoes resemble many of our native 

 trees and shrubs in having the two sexes repre- 

 sented among them. It is usually the male 

 trees that are planted for shade or ornament, 

 as the plum-like fruit of the female tree has a 

 disagreeable odor. In spite of this objection 

 to the latter, there is a well-known example of 

 their cultivation in Washington, D.C. In that 

 city the avenue, at the head of which stands 

 the building of the Department of Agriculture, 

 is bordered b ythem. It is only in Japan that 

 any effort has been made to use the fruit. There 

 the seeds of it are roasted and served at ban- 

 quets as a delicacy. 



The Tree of Heaven. 



The Ailanthus, or Tree of Heaven, attains, 

 under favorable conditions, to a height of 70 

 feet. In comparison with our native pines and 

 elms that often tower up over one hundred feet, 

 this tree seems scarcely to merit its name, but 

 in the Molucca Islands, where the word Ailan- 

 thus signifies Tree of Heaven, there may be less 

 formidable rivals. 



