Cladrastis 449 



CLADRASTIS AMURENSIS 



Cladrastis amurensis, Bentham et Hooker, Gen. PL i. 554 (1865); Maximowicz, Mel. Biol. ix. 72 

 (1873); Franchet et Savatier, Enum. PI. Jap. i. 115 (1875) ^^^d "• 3^7 (1879); J. D. Hooker, 

 Bot. Mag. t. 6551 (1881); Shirasawa, Icon. Ess. Forest. Jap. text 85, pi. L. figs. 1-12 (1900). 



Maackia amurensis, Ruprecht et Maximowicz, Mel. Biol. ii. 418, 441 (1856) and 534 (1857); 

 Maximowicz, Prim. Fl. Amur. 87, 390, t. v. (1859); Morren, Belgiqiie Horticole, 1890, p. 301, 

 t. 18; Gartenflora, 1875, P- ^S^- 



A small tree, attaining 40 or 50 feet in height, with bark peeling off in old trees 

 like that of a birch. Young shoots minutely pubescent. Leaflets (Plate 125, fig. 6) 

 seven to eleven, opposite or rarely sub-opposite, the terminal one articulate, the 

 lateral ones on short, stout pubescent petiolules ; 2 to 3 inches long ; deltoid, ovate 

 or oval ; base truncate or rounded ; apex obtuse or acute ; entire ; upper surface 

 dark green and minutely pubescent ; lower surface pale green, densely appressed 

 pubescent ; rachis pubescent, swollen at the base. 



Flowers greenish white, on long pedicels, in simple or occasionally branched 

 erect terminal dense racemes. Calyx teeth four, short, broad, unequal. Petal- 

 claws long, slender ; standard obovate, emarginate ; wings oblong, obtuse, two- 

 auricled at the base ; keel petals partially coalesced, one-auricled. Stamens slightly 

 connate below. Pod, 2 to 3 inches long, oblong, flattened, brown, slightly appressed 

 pubescent ; seeds, one to five, oblong. 



In specimens from the Asiatic continent the leaflets are larger and much less 

 pubescent than in the Japanese tree, which has been distinguished by Maximowicz 

 as var. Buergeri} and is characterised by very dense appressed pubescence on the 

 lower surface of the leaflets and white tomentose shoots. 



In winter the twigs (Plate 126, fig. 5) are shining, glabrous; leaf-scars on pro- 

 minent pulvini, semicircular, marked by a central large tubercular bundle-scar and 

 two minute dots close to the upper margin ; true terminal bud absent, the top of 

 the branchlet having fallen off in early summer and leaving a short stump at the 

 apex of the twig. Buds solitary, dark brown, shining, pubescent towards the apex, 

 showing two scales visible externally. 



Cladrastis amurensis occurs in Amurland as far north as lat. 52' 20', and grows 

 throughout Eastern Manchuria and Korea, the largest tree seen by Maack being 

 only 35 feet high and i foot in diameter. According to Shirasawa, it is met with in 

 Japan on moist rich soils in the temperate parts, ascending to 4300 feet in the central 

 chain of the main island, and attaining a height of 50 feet and a diameter of 28 

 inches. It was collected by Elwes in the forest near Asahigawa in central Hokkaido, 

 where, however, it was not abundant or conspicuous. It is zdW&d. Inu-enju in Japan. 



Cladrastis amurensis was introduced from the Amur in 1864 by Maximowicz; 

 and has been spread throughout Europe by the St. Petersburg Botanical Garden. It 

 probably came into England about 1870. 



1 I%W. Biol. ix. 72 {1S73). 



