32C VIEWS, &C. PHYSIOGNOMY OF PLANTS. 



Massoniana, Lamb.; his P. cembra, the German and Siberian 

 stone pine-tree, is P. parviflora, Sieb. ; his common larch (P. 

 larix) is the P. leptolepis, Sieb. ; his Taxus baccata, the fruit of 

 which the Japanese courtiers eat as a precautionary measure 

 when attending long ceremonies,* forms a special genus and is 

 Cephalotaxus drupacea, Sieb. The Japanese islands, despite 

 the proximity of the Asiatic Continent, have a very different 

 character of vegetation. Thunberg's Japanese Weymouth 

 pine, which would present an important phenomenon, is 

 moreover a naturalized tree, that differs entirely from the 

 indigenous pines of the New World. It is Pinus korajensis, 

 Sieb., which has migrated from the peninsula of Corea and 

 Kamtschatka to Nipon. 



Of the 114 species now known of the genus Pinus, there is 

 not one in the whole southern hemisphere, for the Pinus 

 Merkusii, described by Junghuhn and De Vriese, still belongs 

 to that part of the island of Sumatra which is north of the 

 equator, that is, to the district of the Battas. The P. insu- 

 laris, Endl., belongs to the Philippines, although at first it 

 was introduced into Loudon's Arboretum as P. timoriensis. 

 From our present increasing knowledge of the geography of 

 plants, we know that there are excluded also from the 

 southern hemisphere, in addition to the genus Pinus, all 

 the races of Cupressus, Salisburia (Ginkgo], Cunninghamia 

 (Pinus lanceolata^ Lamb.), Thuja, one species of which (Th. 

 gigantea, Nutt.) at the Columbia river rises as high as 180 

 feet, Juniperus, and Taxodium (Mirbel's Schubertia). I can 

 introduce this last genus here with the greater certainty, 

 inasmuch as a Cape plant, Sprengel's Schubertia capensis, is 

 no Taxodium, but forms a special genus, Widringtonia, Endl., 

 in quite another division of the Conifer. 



This absence from the southern hemisphere of the true 

 Abietinese, of the Juniperineae, Cupressineae, and all the 

 Taxodineae, as likewise of the Torreya, of the Salisburia 



* Thunberg, Flora Japonica, p. 275. The allusion is somewhat 

 amusing; we annex a translation of Thunberg's note: "This fruit 

 resembles acorns, and is of an astringent nature. For this reason 

 the Japanese interpreters, when constrained to remain in the royal 

 presence longer than usual, chew it, aa an antidiuretic. It is brought to 

 table at the second course with Acrodrya, and is said to be very 

 wholesome, and to relax the bowels although it constricts the mouth. 

 The expressed oil is in request for the kitchen, especially among tha 

 Chinese monks who live at Nagasacca." ED. 



