Betula 



977 



It was introduced into cultivation in England by J. H. Veitch, 1 who sent home 

 seeds from Yezo in 1888; and a large number of seedlings were raised at the 

 Arnold Arboretum, in 1893, from seed received by Sargent 2 from the forestry 

 officers of Yezo. 



Sargent has spoken highly of the beauty and value of this tree, which, wherever 

 we have seen it in this country, is thriving. It is one of the most beautiful of the 

 young trees in Messrs. Walpole's lovely garden at Mount Usher, County Wicklow. 



A tree at Kew, raised from seed obtained in 1893 from the Arnold Arboretum, 

 was 25 feet high and 13 inches in girth in 1907. At Tortworth, a tree, probably of 

 the same age, 30 feet high and 17 inches in girth, is growing vigorously. At 

 Grayswood, Haslemere, a tree obtained as a small plant from Lemoine in 1894, was 

 29 feet by 21 inches in 1906, and is very healthy. 



This species is common on the Continent in botanical gardens, and is very 

 hardy, having borne without injury the severe winter climate of Grafrath, near 

 Munich ; and on this account, and because of its rapid growth, it is recommended by 

 Mayr as worth cultivating as a forest tree. 



Shirasawa says that the wood is rather hard, showing no difference in the 

 colour of the sap and heart wood, and is used in Japan for house-building. The 

 fishermen of Yezo make torches out of the bark, as it takes fire easily, even when 

 wet. (A. H.) 



BETULA ERMANI 



Betula Ermani, Chamisso, in Linnaa, vi. 537, t. vi. f. 8(1831); Erman, Reise, t. 17 (1835); 

 Komarov, Flora Manshuria, ii. 49 (1903) ; Winkler, Betulacece, 66 (1904). 



A tree, 3 attaining about 100 feet in height in Manchuria. Bark creamy- white, 

 with raised whitish lenticels, and peeling off in irregular shreds. Young branchlets 

 glabrous, except for a few hairs above the insertions of the leaves, and covered with 

 numerous glands which roughen the shoot in the second year. 



Leaves (Plate 270, Fig. 12), about 3 inches long, 2 inches broad, ovate, with a 

 broad truncate or slightly cordate base, acuminate at the apex ; margin slightly 

 ciliate at first, coarsely and irregularly serrate ; nerves, ten to twelve pairs ; upper 

 surface with scattered hairs ; lower surface glandular, glabrous except for slight 

 pubescence in the axils and on the midrib and nerves ; petiole, \ inch, glabrescent, 

 glandular. 



Fruiting catkins (Plate 270, Fig. 12), ovoid -oblong, about 1 inch long and 

 I inch in diameter, sessile or shortly stalked ; scales glabrous on the surface, ciliate 

 and glandular in margin, with linear-oblong lobes, the middle lobe longer than the 

 two lateral divergent lobes ; nutlets with narrow wings, broadest above. 



1 Hortus Veiichii, 357 (1906). 2 Forest Flora of Japan, 62 (1894). 



3 According to Matsumura, Shokubutsu Mci-I, 47 (1895), var. nipponica of this species is known as Take-kamba, while 

 the type is called Ezo-no-take-kamba, i.e. B. Ermani of Yezo. 



IV 2 M 



