THE PARASOL PINE. 377 



among the scaly buds, Cones elliptic, cylindrical, obtuse at 

 the ends, solitary, two inches and a half long, and one inch 

 and a half in diameter, and somewhat resembling those of the 

 Pinus cembra. Scales regularly imbricated, wedge-shaped, 

 half-rounded on the outer part, leathery, irregularly reflexed 

 round the edges, rather thin, persistent, and of a grayish-brown 

 colour, bracteas adhering to the scale, and shorter. Seeds ellip- 

 tic, compressed, seven in number under each scale near the 

 upper parts, with a coriaceous covering, tapering into mem- 

 branaceous wings, attenuating to the base and apex. 



A handsome and very singular evergreen tree, from 80 to 

 120 feet high, with a straight stem and horizontal spreading 

 branches, and flowering in the spring. 



It is found in the eastern part of the island of Niphon, upon 

 the mountains of " Koja-San," in the province of " Kii," and 

 probably on other of the Japan Islands. 



The Parasol Fir, according to Mr. Fortune (who first sent 

 living plants of it to Mr. Standish of the Royal Nursery at 

 Bagshot, in 1861), is a large pyramidal tree with horizontal 

 spreading branches, which attains a height of from 100 to 150 

 feet, and from 10 to 11 feet in circumference, three feet from 

 the ground, and not a large bush or small tree from 12 to 15 

 feet high, as originally stated by Dr. Siebold, in his " Flora 

 Japonica." The Japanese, however, have several varieties, 

 among which some are dwarf bushes, others beautifully va- 

 riegated, and others with leaves varying from two to four 

 inches or more in length, and two lines broad : but all linear, 

 a little sickle-shaped, blunt, or slightly notched at the points, 

 leathery, double-ribbed, with a shallow channel running 

 through them, and all spreading out horizontally like the 

 ribs of a parasol, and so closely clustered alternately as to 

 look as if thev stood in whorls of from 30 to 40 together at 

 the ends of all the branchlets. Mr. Fortune says they are of 

 a deep green colour, while, according to Dr. Siebold, they must 

 be of a yellowish-green, and remain on the tree for about three 

 years, by which time each branch has from one to three para- 



