Larix 383 



LARIX KURILENSIS 



Larix kuriknsis, Mayr, Abiet.Jap. Eeiches, 66, t. 5, f. 15 (1890), and Fremdldnd. Wald- u. Parkliauiiie, 



300 (1906). 

 Larix dahurica^ Turczaninow, \'z.r. japonica, Maximowicz, in Kegel, Jiev. Sp. Gen. Larix, p. 59, and 



Gartenflora, xx. 105, t. 685 (1871); Miyabe, Afetn. Boston Soc. Nat. LList. iv. 261 (1890). 



A tree, attaining in the Kurile Islands a height of 70 feet and a girth of 7 to 8 

 feet. Bark, according to Mayr, scarcely distinguishable from that of the Japanese 

 larch. Young branchlets covered with a moderately dense, wavy, irregular 

 pubescence. Branchlets of the second year shining reddish brown, pubescent. 

 Base of the shoot girt by a ring of the previous season's bud-scales, the uppermost of 

 which are loose and reflected, no ring of pubescence being visible ; short shoots dark 

 red, or almost black, shining. Terminal buds dark red, ovoid, with comparatively 

 few scales, which are acuminate, non- resinous, ciliate with brown silky hairs. 

 Lateral buds ovoid, dark red, with ciliate scales. Apical buds of the short shoots 

 hemispherical, dark red, with no ring of pubescence at the base. 



Leaves glaucous, short, broad, and curved, about an inch long, rounded at the 

 apex, few in a bundle, usually twenty to thirty, spreading so as to form a wide open 

 cup around the bud ; upper surface flattened, green without stomata ; lower surface 

 deeply keeled, with two bands of stomata, each of five lines. 



Flowers not seen. Cones small, cylindrical, about f inch long, composed of 

 few scales, less than twenty, with the bracts conspicuous at the base of the cone, but 

 concealed elsewhere by the upper scales. Scales oval, longer than broad, about 

 ^ inch long ; upper margin thin, emarginate, slightly bevelled, not reflected ; outer 

 surface minutely pubescent towards the base. Bract panduriform, about half the 

 length of the scale, terminated by a very short mucro. Seeds lying on the scale 

 in two depressions which are separated by a membranous ridge, with the wings 

 slightly divergent and extending up to the margin of the scale. Seed about \ inch 

 long ; seed with wing about ^ inch long ; wing broadest just above the seed. 



(A. H.) 



This tree was first distinguished as a species by Dr. Mayr, the distinguished 

 dendrologist and traveller, who found it in the Kurile Islands, especially on Iturupp,^ 

 where it forms forests of some extent. Sargent gives an excellent illustration, plate 

 xxvi. in the Forest Flora of Japan, from a photograph taken by Dr. Mayr, and I am 

 able to show its aspect in the same island from two photographs kindly given me by 

 the Imperial Japanese Forest Department (Plate 107). The upper shows a forest of 

 larch on Iturupp ; the lower a scattered group near the shore on the same island. 



The tree was commonly planted in the neighbourhood of Sapporo, and it was 

 introduced into Europe in 1888 by Dr. Mayr, and seems to grow almost as well as 

 the Japanese larch, at least when young. There is a tree 15 feet high at Grafrath, 



' We adopt this spelling on Dr. Mayr's authority, as the correct Aino name for the island. Eterofu is the Japanese form 

 of the word, and Etcrop a corrupt combination of both forms of spelling. 



