78 CONIFERS AND TAXADS OF JAPAN 



the lower branches to become stout and wide-spreading and to retard the tree's 

 growth in height. It is a very ornamental tree, but grows rather slowly and re- 

 sents the summer droughts of New England. 



Chamaecyparis obtusa was introduced into England by John Gould Veitch in 

 1861, and into this country by Dr. George R. Hall in 1862. Of the garden forms 

 the var. nana Carriere (Traite Conif. ed. 2, 131 [1867]) is perhaps the best and 

 one of the handsomest of all dwarf conifers. There is also a yellow-leaved form 

 known as nana aurea Hort. Of the tall-growing yellow-leaved forms one of the 

 best is known in gardens as gracilis aurea Hort. 



CHAMAECYPARIS PISIFERA S. & Z. 



CHAMAECYPARIS PISIFERA Siebold & Zuccarini apud Endlicher, Syn. Conif. 64 

 (1847). Carriere, TraiU Conif. 138 (1855). Franchet & Savatier, Enum. PL 

 Jap. I. 470 (1875). Sargent, Forest Fl. Jap. 73 (1894). Shirasawa, Icon. Ess. 

 For. Jap. I. 26, t. 10, fig. 1-16 (1900). Matsumura, Ind. PL Jap. II. pt. 1, 8 

 (1905). Mayr, Fremdl. Wold- u. Parkb. 276, t. 6, fig. 1 (1906). Beissner, Handb. 

 Nadelh. ed. 2, 564, fig. 143 (1909). Parde, III. Conif. t. 134, fig. 16-25 (1913). 



Retinispora pisifera Siebold & Zuccarini, FL Jap. II. 39, t. 122 (1844). Lindley in 

 Gard. Chron. 1865, 265. 



Cupressus pisifera~K. Koch, Dendr. II. pt. 2, 170 (1873). Sargent, Silva N. Am. 99 

 in a note (1896). Masters in Jour. Linn. Soc. XXXI. 355 (1896). Kent in 

 Veitch, Man. Conif. ed. 2, 224, fig. 67 (1900). Elwes & Henry, Trees Gr. Brit. & 

 Irel. V. 1190, t. 305 (1910). Clinton-Baker, III. Conif. III. 51, fig. (1913). 



Retinospora pisifera Gordon, Pinet. ed. 2, 369 (1875). Masters in Gard. Chron. 

 n. ser. V. 235, fig. 44 (1876). 



Thuya pisifera Masters in Jour. Linn. Soc. XVIII. 489, fig. 1 (1881). 



In the temple grounds of Japan this species is as much and as widely planted 

 as its relative C. obtusa S. & Z., but as a wild tree its distribution appears to be more 

 limited. I met with it only in the valley of the Kiso-gawa in Mino and Shinano 

 provinces, and around the hot springs at the foot of the ascent of Tsubakura-dake 

 in the more northern part of Shinano. It is very common on the moist, rocky 

 slopes of the low mountains which surround Mt. Ontake on the Otake-Kurasawa 

 side and it was here that I saw the finest specimens of this tree. In these regions it 

 is much more plentiful than C. obtusa S. & Z. with which it grows. The finest trees 

 I saw of C. pisifera were nearly 50 m. tall with trunks 5 m. in girth and strongly 

 buttressed at the base. The trunk is mast-like and free of branches for from a 

 third to a half the height of the tree. The branches are shorter than those of C. obtusa 

 S. & Z., spread horizontally, are somewhat inclined upward near their extremities 

 and form a narrow pyramidal or spire-like crown. The bark is indistinguishable 

 from that of C. obtusa and the wood has the same peculiar rancid smell, but it is 

 brownish in color and though of good quality and employed for the same purposes 

 is considered inferior to that of C. obtusa S. & Z. 



In Japan C. pisifera is known as the Sawara and has long been cultivated in 

 gardens and it is a common tree in temple grounds, but I did not see it anywhere in 

 Japan used in reafforestation work. In eastern North America this Chamae- 

 cyparis is as hardy as C. obtusa S. & Z., but, although it grows more rapidly than the 



