II 



44 The Trees of Great Britain and Ire 



land 



leaves assume a golden yellow colour during winter, and var. variegata, in which the 

 leaves are marked with one or two transverse yellow bands about the middle, were 

 introduced^ into Kew Gardens in 1897. 



According to Mayr, this species forms hybrids with P. densiflora. 



(A. H.) 



Distribution 



This species is restricted to Japan,^ where, according to Shirasawa and Mayr, it 

 is only known in the wild state on the eastern sea-coast, from Kiusiu and Shikoku to 

 the northern part of Hondo. On account of the dark grey bark, uniform in colour 

 to the top of the tree, it is usually called kuro-matsu or black pine by the Japanese. 

 Commonly forming a stout trunk, with irregular wide-spreading strong branches, it 

 is also termed o-matsu, or male pine, in contradistinction to P. densiflora, which, 

 from its more slender stem and more graceful appearance, is named female pine. 

 Varied and picturesque in appearance, the black pine is frequently depicted by 



Japanese artists. 



It is one of the trees which has been planted from a very early period in gardens 

 and about temples. The most celebrated tree of the species grows on the shore of 

 Lake Biwa at Karasaki, which is easily reached in two hours from Kioto, and is well 

 worth a visit. It is certainly a remarkable tree, though nothing like so large as 

 stated in Murray's Handbook to Japan (1903).' The correct measurement, as taken 

 by myself, is as follows :— Girth at ground, 20 ft. ; at 5 ft., where a very large limb 

 is already thrown off, 29 ft. The largest limbs are about 1 2 ft. each in girth, and 

 the main trunk above them about 20 ft. high. The highest branch that I could 

 find on the tree is not over 50 ft. from the ground, but the spread is astonishing. 

 As nearly as I could follow the extremities of the branches, they cover an area 

 180 paces round, and though the tree is decayed in places and is said to be a 

 thousand years old, it is full of foliage and had many cones which bear fertile seeds. 



Another famous tree at the Naniwaga tea-house in Osaka, seen by Siebold, had 

 the branches artificially extended, and formed a circuit of 135 paces. 



This pine is also largely planted for timber in Japan, and is of great service near 

 the sea-coast for fixing the dunes and for shelter belts. It will grow in the poorest 

 soil, but then remains dwarf and of no value unless planted wide apart. On good 



1 Gard. Chron. xxi. 250 (1 897). These varieties cannot now be found. 



2 A pine, widely spread in the mountains of northern Korea, and of the Manchurian provinces, S. Ussuri, Kirin, and 

 Mukden, has long been confused with P. Thunbergii, and has only lately been accurately described as a distinct species — 

 Firms funebris, Komarov, Flora Manshtiriic, i. 177 (1901). The leaves of this species differ in having marginal resin-canals ; 

 and the buds are reddish, ovoid, short-pointed, with appressed scales. The cones, similar in size to those of P. Thunbergii, 

 differ in the greyish apophyses of the scales, each of which has an elevated umbo, ending in an inflexed short point. The seeds 

 are shining dark brown, with short broad wings. This pine resembles in stature P. sylvestris, but has ashy grey coloured 

 bark. It is often planted in Korea and Manchuria, and in the vicinity of Peking, around temples and tombs ; but has not yet 

 been introduced into this country. It is erroneously referred to P. Thunbergii by Masters m/oum. Linn. Soc. {Bot.)ioi.\i. 

 553 (1902). 



The specimens from Yunnan and eastern Szechwan referred to P. Thunbergii by Franchet, mjourn. de Bot. xiii. 253 (1899), 

 are certainly not this species. — (A. H.) 



3 A photograph of this remarkable specimen, sent by Sir Thomas Hanbury, who considered it to be P. densiflora, is 

 reproduced in Gard. Chron. xv. 366, fig. 44 (1894). Another remarkable pine, either P. Thunbergii or P. densiflora, is 

 figured in Gard. Chrot. xv. 140, fig. 15 (1894). This stands in the Kinkakuji monastery in Kioto, and is trained to repre- 

 sent a junk with a mast and sail. Cf. Kent, Veitch's Man. Conifera, 385, fig. (1900). 



