November 29, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



493 



one of the most widely distributed of North American trees, 

 is found to be_ annual-fruited. In New England it flowers 

 about the latter part of April, and the little blueberry-like 

 fruits are fully ripened in October. They remain on the 

 plants throughout the winter, or until eaten by birds, which 

 find them an important article of food when the ground is 

 covered with snow. 



The so-called Trailing Savin, Juniperus Sabina, var. pro- 

 cumbens, is naturally a rather uncommon plant in the east, 

 but farther west it becomes more abundant. Numerous 

 fruiting specimens, kindly furnished by Robert Douglas & 

 Son, Waukegan, Illinois, show that this species requires 

 two summers of growth before the fruit is ripened. 



The third eastern American species is the low-growing 

 common Juniper, Juniperus communis, so abundant in 

 many neglected pastures and on rocky hill-sides, and well 

 known as a native of Europe and Asia, as well as north- 

 ern America. A careful examination of fruiting plants of 

 this species will show that the fruits are not ripe at the end 

 of the second year after flowering, and that they must have 

 a third summer to bring them to full maturity. This spe- 

 cies blossoms about a month later than the Red Cedar, the 

 flowers appearing singly in the upper axils of the leaves 

 on shoots of the previous season's growth. As in the case 

 of the Black Oaks, very little development is manifest dur- 

 ing the first summer, and in the autumn the young fruits 

 are not much larger than they were at flowering time. It 

 is during the second season that nearly all the growth 

 takes place, and the little galbuli will be found to have en- 

 larged considerably before the regular blossoming time 

 returns. In the second autumn they are nearly full-grown, 

 but still green. During the third summer complete devel- 

 opment is accomplished, and by the end of August or early 

 September we find the so-called berries soft, sweet and 

 ripe. A fruiting branch of this species, with its ripe blue 

 or purple fruit and green fruit in two stages of develop- 

 ment, forms an interesting study. In this case we are 

 enabled to tell more than two years in advance whether 

 there is likely to be a crop of fruit ; and the Black Oaks and 

 Pines show clearly in summer the probabilities for a har- 

 vest of seed in the autumn of the next year. 



Arnold Arboretum. J- ^- JCICK. 



Oregon Autumn Notes. 



ONE who is accustomed to the changes of seasons in the 

 east is disappointed when looking for the beautiful tints of 

 autumn in the foliage of the trees of western Oregon. Instead 

 of the bright reds and yellows which paint with splendor the 

 mountain-slopes of a New England landscape, our deciduous 

 trees present a monotony of dull yellows and browns, which is 

 at first unsatisfying. The trees which give the character to the 

 landscape on the low lands are chiefly the Garry Oak, Ouercus 

 Garryana ; the Oregon Ash, Fraxinus Oregana, and the Big- 

 leaf Maple, Acer macrophyllum, of the deciduous kind ; and of 

 the cone-bearers, the White Fir, Abies grandis, with the Doug- 

 las Spruce, Pseudotsuga taxifolia, on higher situations. When 

 seen from a little distance the yellows of the Ash and Maple 

 and the brown of the Oak are beautifully contrasted with the 

 dark green of the White Fir, and their brighter coloring and 

 bold outlines set them out in strong relief from a dark green 

 background of Douglas Spruce, softened by a blue haze. 



But our autumn landscapes are not entirely without bright 

 colors, for here and there the eyes are greeted by a cluster of 

 the brilliant crimson and scarlet leaves of the Vine Maple, 

 Acer circinatum, which grows plentifully as underbrush both 

 in the bottom-lands and on the hill-sides. The graceful habit 

 of the dark green procumbent or ascending stems, and the pe- 

 culiar set of the leaves, give this small tree a striking appear- 

 ance, and it would make a valuable addition to eastern gar- 

 dens if it can be successfully cultivated there. The season is 

 now rapidly advancing, and the fallen leaves of the Big-leaf 

 Maple, which is much used as a shade-tree, are strewn plenti- 

 fully over the ground. Nor is the name Big-leaf a misnomer. 

 One now on my table measures in total length nearly thirty 

 inches, the petiole being half as long, and its breadth nineteen 

 and a quarter inches. The largest leaves are found on young 

 sprouts after a severe pruning. At higher elevations, and in 

 the denser shade of Spruce and Cedar, Thuya gigantea, the 

 leaves of the Vine Maple are still a vivid green, while those of 



the Arrow-wood, Spinca discolor, var. ariajfolia, and of the 

 Hazel, Corylus rostrata, var. Californica, are rapidly fading 

 and falling. The Dogwood, Cornus Nuttallii, too, is losing its 

 foliage, but bears in its place a rich harvest of bright red ber- 

 ries, which are eagerly sought by the birds. Here and there, 

 in open spots, grows the cosmopolitan Brake, Pteris aquilina, 

 to a height of six feet, throwing into the air a sliower of spores 

 and sporangia at every step. 



In the gardens the Roses are in full bloom, and will continue 

 into late November. Since the advent of the autumn rains the 

 grass has flourished, and the lawns are showing a lusty green. 

 Altogether, the autumn here has charms of its own which are 

 well worth grateful recognition. 



Forest Grove, Oregon. FranCtS Emest Lloyd. 



Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XXV. 



IN Japan, Junipers are much less common than they are 

 in eastern America, and although five or six species are 

 included in the Floras of the empire, the genus does not 

 make an important element of the landscape, and one 

 misses the dark spires which Juniperus Virginiana sends 

 up so frequently in many parts of eastern America. Ju- 

 niperus Chinensis appears to grow to a larger size than the 

 other Japanese species, although we only saw it in one re- 

 gion growing, as it appeared, without cultivation. This was 

 on the high volcanic ridge which dominates the Chikuma, 

 one of the streams which flow from Asama-yama, in cen- 

 tral Japan. Over this elevated and inhospitable region oc- 

 casional Junipers are scattered, the largest attaining a height 

 of thirty or forty feet, their wind-swept heads and straggling 

 branches covered with gray-green foliage, adding to the 

 dreariness of the scene. Before the Buddhist temple of 

 Zenkogi, in Nagano, the principal city in this part of Japan, 

 two venerable Junipers show to what a size plants of this 

 species can grow, and how picturesque they can become. 

 These trees are seventy or eighty feet high ; their hollow 

 trunks, which are rather more than six feet in diameter, 

 support narrow heads of twisted and contorted branches 

 clothed with scanty foliage, and indicate that centuries may 

 well have passed since the roots of these marvelous trees 

 first penetrated this sacred soil. On the rocky cliffs and 

 grassy slopes of the coast, fully exposed to the spray of the 

 ocean, a prostrate form of Juniperus Chinensis forms, with 

 its long creeping stems, dense mats, often of considerable 

 size. It is said to be a feature of the littoral vegetation of 

 Japan, but we only saw a few plants in Yezo, between Rlor- 

 roran and the Aino village of Horobetsu, where they re- 

 ceive the unbroken sweep of the Pacific. On the sandy 

 dunes of the Bay of Hakodate, opposite that city, another 

 littoral Juniper was found by the American botanist Charles 

 Wright, and later by Maximowicz. This is the Juniperus 

 conferta of Parlatue (Juniperus littoralis of Maximowicz), a 

 species distinguished by its stout crowded leaves and larye 

 globose fruit. We saw it on Hakodate Bay at the end of 

 September, and Mr. Veitch collected it earlier near Hanjo, 

 on the west coast of Hondo, but we were too early to ob- 

 tain ripe fruit of this species or of the prostrate form of 

 Juniperus Chinensis. The only other Juniper we saw in 

 Japan, Juniperus rigida, is a small tree sometimes twenty 

 feet high, but more often a low spreading bush. It is com- 

 mon in the barrens near Gifu, and appears to be generally 

 distributed at low elevations in central Japan, although it 

 only grows on dry, sterile, gravelly soil. This is the Juni- 

 per which is most commonly cultivated by the Japanese, 

 and is not infrequently an inhabitant of temple-gardens. 

 Its long, slender, rigid leaves and small fruit, tipped with a 

 minute nuicro, serve to distinguish it from Juniperus conferta. 

 Of the true Pines of Japan two species are valuable tim- 

 ber-trees ; these are Pinus densiflora and Pinus Thun- 

 bergii ; both bear an important part in the decoration of 

 Japanese gardens, and one at least has had its influence in 

 all expressions of the artistic temperament of the people. 

 All the Pine-woods of Japan, except those found on the up- 

 per slopes of some of the high mountains of central Hondo, 

 have evidently been planted. Such planted woods are 

 often seen covering sandy plains near the coast, and the 



