58 CONIFERS AND TAXADS OF JAPAN 



mesophyll and the resin-ducts are normally median, but on young trees and 

 adventitious shoots they are marginal. The cone is resinous, violet-purple, 

 cylindrical, from 7.5 to 9 cm. long and from 2.5 to 3.75 cm. wide, occasionally 

 umbilicate, and changes to brownish purple when ripe. 



The figure of Siebold & Zuccarini is poor, but it does show, though somewhat 

 diagrammatically, the characteristically deeply grooved shoot which distinguishes 

 this species from other Japanese Firs. Differences that have been pointed out be- 

 tween supposed plants of Abies homolepis and A. brachyphylla Maxim, are merely 

 variations, dependent on the different ages of the specimens compared. 



The name Dake-momi, very generally applied to this tree by the Japanese, 

 signifies Mountain Fir. The wood is used for the same purposes as that of A. 

 firma S. & Z. and is of equal value. 



Abies homolepis was discovered by von Siebold, who saw it cultivated in gardens 

 in Osaka and Nagasaki and who states on the authority of Keiske Ito and other 

 Japanese that it grows wild in the provinces of Owari and Shinano. We know to- 

 day that this is perfectly true. Apparently it was first introduced to Europe by 

 John Gould Veitch, who sent seeds from Japan in 1861, under the impression that 

 they were those of A. Veitchii Lindl., and under this name the plants were distrib- 

 uted until the error was discovered in 1880 through the introduction of Lindley's 

 species by Maries in 1879. Seeds were sent to Petrograd by Maximowicz's collec- 

 tor, Tschonoski in 1865 and distributed by Regel under the name of A. Tscho- 

 noskiana; the same collector again sent seeds in 1866 and this was distributed as A. 

 brachyphylla Maxim. In eastern North America this Fir is a very satisfactory tree, 

 grows freely and is extremely ornamental. In this Arboretum it is perfectly hardy 

 and for landscape purposes is the best of the Japanese species and one of the most 

 valuable of all exotic Firs. Our largest tree was received from Messrs. Veitch in 

 1882 and is now about 12 m. tall and well furnished with wide-spreading branches 

 from the ground up. In the Hunnewell Pinetum there is an older and finer speci- 

 men 17 m. tall. A variety of this species is 



ABIES HOMOLEPIS, var. UMBELLATA Wils. n. var. 



Abies umbellata Mayr, Monog. Abiet. Jap. 34, t. 1, fig. 2 (1890). Shirasawa, Icon- 

 Ess. For. Jap. II. t. 2, fig. 1-17 (1908). Elwes & Henry, Trees Gr. Brit. & Irel 

 IV. 768 (1909). Matsumura, Ind. PL Jap. II. pt. 1, 5 (1905). Hayata, Veget. 

 Mt. Fuji, 92 (1911). 



Abies umbilicata Mayr in Mitt. Deutsch. Dendr. Ges. III. 31 (1894). 



Pinus umbilicata Voss in Mitt. Deutsch. Dendr. Ges. XVI. 94 (1907). 



Except in the color of the cones I can find no difference whatever between this 

 Fir (Plate XXXIX) and the typical A. homolepis S. & Z. The habit of the tree, the 

 bark, the shoot, the winter-buds, the leaves, the character of their mesophyll and 

 the position of the resin-ducts are the same. In both the cone is occasionally um- 

 bilicate, but this is the exception rather than the rule. All the specimens of Mayr's 

 Fir so far recorded have been found growing mixed with typical A. homolepis. On 

 Mitsumine-san, where Mayr discovered it, there are growing in the temple grounds 

 two trees of this variety umbellata and the priests declare they are the only ones 

 on the mountain. To these trees the name Urajiro-momi has been applied and 

 they are well known to Japanese botanists. Unfortunately no young cones could 

 be found and I had to be contented with male flowers. Both Abies homolepis and 

 A. firma S. & Z. grow in the same temple grounds and are wild on the mountain. 



On the shores of Lake Chuzenji, on June 3, I discovered a tree of the variety 



