66 CONIFERS AND TAXADS OF JAPAN 



CRYPTOMERIA D. Don 



PLATES XLVIII AND XLIX 



CRYPTOMERIA JAPONICA D. Don in Trans. Linn. Soc. XVIII. 167, t. 13, fig. 1 

 (1841). Hooker, Icon. VII. t. 668 (1844). Siebold & Zuccarini in Abh. Akad. 

 Munch. IV. pt. 3, 234 (Fl. Jap. Fam. Nat. II. 110) (1846). Miquel in Ann. 

 Mus. Lugd.-Bat. III. 168 (1867); in Siebold & Zuccarini, Fl. Jap. II. 43, t. 124, 

 124 b (1870). Franchet & Savatier, Enum. PL Jap. I. 469 (1875). Masters in 

 Jour. Linn. Soc. XVIII. 497 (1881); XXVI. 544 (1902); XXXVII. 413 (1906).- 

 Sargent, Forest Fl. Jap. 74, t. 24 (1894). Shirasawa, Icon. Ess. For. Jap. I. 24, 

 t. 9, fig. 25-42 (1900). Matsumura, Ind. PL Jap. II. pt. 1, 9 (1905). J. H. 

 Veitch, A Traveller's Notes, 133, t. 9 (1906). Mayr, Fremdl. Wold- u. Parkb. 278 

 (1906). Elwes & Henry, Trees Gr. Brit. & Irel. I. 128, t. 38-41 (1906). Beissner, 

 Handb. Nadelh. ed. 2, 475, fig. 115-117 (1909). Parde, Icon. Conif. t. 114 (1912).- 

 Silva Tarouca, Uns. Freiland-Nadelh. 67, 134, fig. 60, 133 (1913). Render & 

 Wilson in Sargent, PL Wilson. II. 52 (1914). 



Cupressus japonica Linnaeus f., Suppl. 421 (1781). Thunberg, FL Jap. 265 (1784). 

 Taxodium japonicum Brongniart in Ann. Sci. Nat. ser. I. XXX. 183 (exclude var. 



heterophylla) (1833). 



Cryptomeria japonica, var. Lobbii CarriSre, Traite Conif. 154 (1855). 

 Cryptomeria japonica, var. japonica Henry in Elwes & Henry, Trees Gr. Brit. & Irel. 



I. 129 (1906). 



My first journey after my arrival in Japan in early February 1914 was to the 

 forests on the island of Yaku-shima, situated some 90 miles south of Kagoshima in 

 Kyushu. In books Yaku-shima is usually mentioned as belonging to the Liukiu 

 group, but this statement is not correct. It is only a small island, yet it is of peculiar 

 interest since it is not only the extreme southern limit of the Japanese archipelago 

 proper, but also marks the southern limit of the Japanese flora. My trip was 

 made easy through the kindness of Dr. H. Shirasawa, who wrote on my behalf to 

 Dr. Naito, head of the Kagoshima forestry bureau, within whose jurisdiction 

 Yaku-shima lies. Dr. Naito, in the most obliging manner, detailed his assistant, Mr. 

 Miyoshi, to accompany me anywhere I wished to go in his district. Mr. Miyoshi, 

 who had recently graduated from the Tokyo School of Forestry under Professor 

 Honda, proved a most charming and enthusiastic travelling companion. At 

 Yaku-shima the local forestry officials did everything they could. But for this 

 assistance it would have been impossible to have made any study of these forests, 

 for there are no roads, only trails laid on logs for the use of the forest guards, and 

 no accommodation other than rough huts for the occasional use of these men. 



Yaku-shima is really a mountain of granite blocks upthrust from the bed of the 

 ocean, with numerous spurs, and culminating in a peak, called Miyanoura, 1928 m. 

 above sea-level. From sea-level to about 100 m. altitude is coastal savannah 

 with scattered hamlets, patches of cultivation, isolated trees, chiefly Pinus Thun- 

 bergii Parl., and along the watercourses shrubs, Bananas, Tree Ferns and miscella- 

 neous trees. Above this, up to about 250 m. altitude, is a narrow belt of mixed and 

 chiefly evergreen forest in which Castanopsis cuspidata Schottk. is a prominent 

 tree and Cryptomeria is planted. This belt belongs to the villagers and above it 

 the whole island is a government forest reserve. The summit of Miyanoura is said 



