60 CONIFERS AND TAXADS OF JAPAN 



Konseitoge Pass, travelling from Yumoto village, there is a fine forest of this and 

 Veitch's Fir and the trees are from 20 to 25 m. tall and have trunks from 1.5 to 

 2.3 m. in girth. On a spur of Adzuma-san which I ascended from Toge on the 

 borders of Iwashiro and Uzen provinces there is a pure forest of Abies Mariesii in 

 which the lumbermen were unfortunately very busy. Here I saw in quantity the 

 finest trees of this Fir I met with. Specimens from 25 to 30 m. tall and from 2 to 

 3 m. in girth of trunk were common. On the crest of this spur this Fir is reduced 

 to a small tree or bush. 



On the northern slopes of Hayachine-san in Rikuchu province Maries' 

 Fir is abundant. On the upper slopes it forms, with Tsuga diversifolia Mast., 

 Pinus pumila Regel and broad-leaved deciduous trees, a dense scrub. Lower 

 down on the mountain it forms woods. On Hakkoda-yama in Mutsu province, 

 where Maries first discovered it, most of the trees have been cut down or have 

 been destroyed by fire, but a number still grow there and the trees, though 

 less tall, equal in girth of trunk any I saw elsewhere. It does not grow in Hokkaido; 

 neither has it been reported from Hondo south of the central provinces. The 

 specimens from Formosa and from China which have been referred to this species 

 are now known to belong to other species. 



As it grows in the forests of Japan this is a more handsome Fir than A. Veitchii 

 Lindl., with stouter, more wide-spreading branches forming normally an oval or 

 even flattened round crown. The bark is very pale gray (almost white) as in 

 Veitch's Fir, but on old trees it becomes somewhat rough near the base of the trunk 

 a condition I never observed in A. Veitchii Lindl. The shoots are clothed with a 

 rufous-brown pubescence, and the winter-buds are brownish purple, globose and 

 resinous. The leaves are unequal in length and on fruiting branches more or less 

 appressed. The cone is violet-purple, from 4 to 9 cm. long and from 3 to 4.5 cm. 

 wide, and ovoid or somewhat barrel-shaped. The wood is white, becoming very 

 pale brown on exposure, and is of good quality for that of a Fir. 



In Japan this tree is known as the Aomori-todomatsu in northern Hondo, 

 and around Nikko as the Oh-shirabiso. It was discovered on Hakkoda-yama 

 by Charles Maries in 1878 and by him introduced into the nurseries of Messrs. 

 Veitch in 1879. In eastern North America Maries' Fir does not thrive and in this 

 Arboretum can be kept alive only in a sheltered place. The fact that it is an alpine 

 species is probably the reason why it does so badly here at sea-level. In the 

 Hunnewell Pinetum there is a healthy plant about 4 m. tall, and this has produced 

 cones. 



A. VEITCHII Lindl. 



PLATES XLII AND XLIII 



ABIES VEITCHII Lindley in Gard. Chron. 1861, 23. Murray, Pines & Firs Jap. 

 39, fig. 69-79 (1863). Miquel, Pro/. Fl Jap. 389 (1867). Bertrand in Ann. Sci. 

 Nat. ser. 5, XX. 93 (1874). Masters in Gard. Chron. n. ser. XIII. 275, fig. 50, 51 

 (1880). Veitch, Man. Conif. 107, fig. 11, 27, 28 (1881). Mayr, Monog. Abiet. 

 Jap. 38, t. 2, fig. 4 (1890). Sargent, Forest Fl. Jap. 83 (1894). Shirasawa, 

 Icon. Ess. For. Jap. I. 16, t. 5, fig. 23-42 (1900). Matsumura, Ind. PL Jap. 

 II. pt. 1, 6 (1905). Beissner, Handb. Nadelh. ed. 2, 190, fig. 42 (1909). Elwes 

 & Henry, Trees Gr. Brit. & Irel IV. 768 (1909). Clinton-Baker, ///. Conif. II. 

 28, t. (1909). Hayata, Veget. Mt. Fuji, 48, 92, fig. 16 (1) (1911). Silva 

 Tarouca, Uns. Freiland-Nadelh. 102, fig. 99 (1913). 



