EDITORS' PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION 



The flora of Japan first became known to westerners tlirough 

 tlie agency of the Dutch East India Company, established in 

 Nagasaki in 1609. The first list of Japanese plants published in 

 Europe was the "Amoenitatum Exoticarum" of Engelbert 

 Kaempfer, published in 1712. Europeans under Dutch auspices 

 continued to study the Japanese flora until Japan was opened 

 to world commerce in 1859. Relatively soon thereafter, and 

 continuing up to the present day, Japanese botanists have been 

 busily engaged in the study of their flora. 



To agriculturists, foresters, and horticulturists in America 

 and Europe, and in other warm-temperate areas of the world, 

 the Japanese flora long has been an important source of plant 

 materials of economic importance. To botanists, the Japanese 

 flora gained lasting prominence among students of the North 

 Temperate boreal flora with Asa Gray's now classic paper pub- 

 lished in 1859,^ which emphasized the relationships of the 

 Japanese flora to parts of eastern United States. 



The flora of Japan is perhaps the best known of any country 

 in eastern Asia. Since about 1868, each period of activity has 

 seen new floristic works published. Floras published in Japa- 

 nese by Jinzo Matsumura, Tomitaro Makino, and Takenoshin 

 Nakai, for example, are well known in Japan, although they 

 have been of relatively litde use to western botanists, prin- 

 cipally because of language barriers. 



This English language edition of a Flora of Japan, by Dr. 

 Jisaburo Ohwi, is an attempt to bridge the language barrier. 

 The last floristic work to cover the Japanese archipelago in a 

 western language was Franchet and Savatier's two-volume 

 "Enumeratio Plantarum in Japonia Sponte Crescentium Huc- 

 usque Rite Cognitarum," published 1875-79. Unlike other 

 floras of Japan of the past. Dr. Owhi's work is the first to in- 

 clude synoptical keys of all taxa through the level of the spe- 

 cies. With this English translation, botanists, horticulmrists, 

 agriculturists, and others not fluent in the Japanese language 



^ Gray, A. Diagnostic characters of new species of phaenogamous 

 plants, collected in Japan by Charles Wright, Botanist of the U.S. 

 North Pacific Exploring Expedition, with observations upon the re- 

 lations o£ the Japanese flora to that of North America, and of other 

 parts of the northern temperate zone. Mem. Amer. Acad., n. ser. 

 6: 377-452, 1859. 



have available a modern floristic work of Japan which covers 

 the ferns through the phanerograms. We should point out here 

 that the English language edition of this Flora of Japan is an 

 emended account and not merely a verbatim translation of 

 Dr. Ohwi's original work in Japanese. 



The Romaji or Japanese vernacular names are included for 

 all taxa listed in this English edition, although to westerners 

 the supplying of a vernacular name for every taxon might 

 seem superfluous. This is due to the relative similarity of west- 

 ern languages to Latin, the basis of the scientific names. But to 

 the nonbotanist in Japan there is a far greater need for a ver- 

 nacular name in Japanese because the great difference between 

 that language and Latin precludes the use of the latter by the 

 uninitiated. The vernacular names supplied by the author have 

 been altered by the junior editor, with the aid of Mr. Hisao 

 Matsumoto of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., by 

 the insertion of additional hyphens, more than are commonly 

 used by Japanese scholars. In this way the attempt has been 

 made to aid westerners who may be interested in these names 

 to comprehend more readily their structure and meaning. 

 Japanese plants in cultivation often bear the original Romaji 

 name and for this reason inclusion of the Japanese names is 

 justified and useful. 



In preparing the manuscript for publication, the editors have 

 at all times endeavored to render faithfully and accurately the 

 full intentions of the author, realizing fully the pitfalls of edit- 

 ing another author's work. All changes, corrections, and addi- 

 tions have been carefully checked by the author himself. Vari- 

 ous specialists in the United States have offered editorial 

 assistance: Agnes Chase (Gramineae) ; F. A. McClure (Bam- 

 buseae) ; C. V. Morton (ferns) ; Lincoln Constance (Umbel- 

 liferae) ; Robert E. Woodson, Jr. (Apocynaceae and Asclepia- 

 daceae) ; Rogers McVaugh (Campanulaceae) ; F. Raymond 

 Fosberg (Rubiaceae); and S. F. Blake (Compositae). Without 

 the full cooperation and cordial relationships between the edi- 

 tors and the author, this project would not have been possible. 



Frederick G. Meyer 

 Egbert H. Walker, Editors 



January 1965 



