246 PRACTICAL FORESTRY. 



opposite rows. The cones elliptic, with thick ligneous, or 

 leathery scales placed in opposite pairs, and furnished with a 

 recurved short or long horny point. Seeds two at the base of 

 each scale, large, ovoid, nut-like and without wings. There is 

 a large number of varieties, by some authors considered spe- 

 cies, the most familiar are Chinese Arbor- Vitae (Biota orientalis), 

 a tall growing tree, found throughout China and Japan, and of 

 which there are a large number of cultivated varieties. The 

 Tartarian Arbor- Vitae (B. Tartarica), is probably only a variety 

 of the Chinese, although quite distinct in form of growth and 

 in size and shape of the cones. There are also golden-leaved, 

 weeping, dwarf, and other forms described in works devoted 

 exclusively to the coniferse, like those of Hoopes, Veitch, Mas- 

 ters, Gordon, etc., etc. 



RETI:NISPORA, Siebold. Japan Arlor-Vitce. 

 A genus or group more closely allied to the Chinese than 

 American Arbor- Vitse, having small, round woody cones, with 

 numerous ovate scales. The seeds are resinous, and with 

 membraneous wings that are usually deciduous, when fully ma- 

 ture. The name of the genus derives its origin from the resin- 

 ous coating of the seed. There is a very large number of varie- 

 ties in cultivation, probably all descendents from one original 

 species, but in the present state of our knowledge it would be 

 difficult to fix upon the parent stock. M. T. Masters in Mono- 

 graph already referred to, names R. pisifera, Siebold, and R. 

 obtusa, Sieb., as the two species from which the almost innu- 

 merable varieties have descended. The last species grows to a 

 large size on the Island of Nippon in Japan, forming trees sixty 

 to eighty feet high. All the species and varieties are really 

 beautiful trees and well worth cultivating for ornamental pur- 

 poses, if for no other. They present a great variety of foliage, 

 both in form and color. In some the leaves and branchlets are 

 exceedingly minute and feather-like, either dark green or of a 

 silver or golden color, while others have flattish branchlets, 

 somewhat after the forms and character of pur common Arbor- 

 Vitas. Seedlings often vary widely from the parent stock, and 

 what are termed "sports," frequently appear among old and 

 well established plants. One of the most unique varieties in 

 cultivation originated in my grounds about eight years ago, and 

 was described by Prof. Geo. Thurber in the American Agricul- 

 turist, 1881, under the name of Fuller's Japan Arbor- Vitae. It 

 originated from a sport of the variety known as R. var. aurea 



