Cupressus 1 1 9 1 



glaucous silvery foliage ; ultimate branchlets tetragonal ; leaves soft in texture, in 

 opposite decussate pairs or whorls of fours, decurrent oft the branchlet, sessile, linear, 

 flattened, ^ in. long, whitened on both surfaces, acuminate. The bluish tint of the 

 foliage is very handsome. 



According to Siebold, " it is said to occur wild in Kiusiu," but in all probability 

 it is only known in the cultivated state in Japan, where it is called Himuro or 

 Shimofuri-hiba. It was introduced into Europe in 1843, and for a long time was 

 considered to be a distinct species ; but Syme^ in 1879 found a tree of this variety 

 giving off a branch with foliage exactly like that of C.pisifera; and in 1882 it 

 produced ^ fruit with Messrs. Veitch, unmistakably the same as the species. Elwes 

 brought from Japan specimens in fruit collected by Watanabe on Nokogiri-yama. 

 The seed produced in England appears to be unfertile. 



Syme first showed^ the true nature of these Retinispora forms. In 1875 he 

 raised 2000 seedlings of C. pisifera, many of which were 2 ft. high in 1879. These 

 seedlings during the first four months resembled Retinispora squarrosa, but towards 

 the end of the season the great majority assumed the branchlets and leaves of R. 

 plumosa, and in the following year developed the adult foliage of C. pisifera. A few 

 of the seedlings, however, did not change from the juvenile stage till they were two 

 years old, and one plant when three years old changed into the plumose stage, and 

 remained so. Probably var. squarrosa and var. plumosa originally were accidental 

 seedlings ; but in most cases now plants of the different stages of Retinispora are 

 artificially produced by propagation from cuttings, Hochstetter* states that if lateral 

 branches are used as cuttings, Retinispora forms are produced, while terminal shoots 

 give C. pisifera. Var. squarrosa and var. plumosa can also be produced by using 

 offsets from young seedlings of C. pisifera.^ 



A sub-variety, known as var. squarrosa sulphurea, yellowish in colour, is known ; 

 and Mr. Paul has a specimen of this at Cheshunt, which is growing into the form 

 plumosa, while still retaining its colour.^ 



This variety® has attained 29 ft. in height at Wellesley, Massachusetts, U.S.A. 



2. Y ax. plumosa, Masters, mjourn. Linn. Soc. [Bot.) xxxi. 356 (1896). 



Retinispora plumosa, Veitch, ex Koch, Dendrologie, ii. pt. ii. p. 170 (1873); Syme, in Gard. Chron. 



V. 236, fig. 42 (1876). 

 Thuya pisifera. Masters, -^ax. plumosa. Masters, mjourn. Linn. Soc. {Bot.yxy'm. 490, fig. 2 (1881). 

 Chamcecyparis pisifera, Siebold et Zuccarini, •'^zx. plumosa, Beissner, Nadelh. 87 (1891). 



A dense shrub or small tree, usually of conical habit ; branchlet systems crowded, 

 more or less overlapping, often curved at the distal end, bi-pinnate, with the pinnae 

 in one plane. Leaves crowded in decussate pairs, decurrent in their basal half, \ in. 



' Joum. Linn. Soc. (Bot.) xviii. 490 (i88i). 



2 Syme in Gard. Chron. xviii. 395 (1882). At the present day it often produces fruit, as at Kilmacurragh and elsewhere. 

 Shepherd sent a specimen covered with cones from Wolverston Park to Dr. Masters. Cf. Gard. Chron. iv. 671 (1888). 



3 Iri Gard. Chron. xviii. 395 (1882). 



* Gartenjlora, xxix. 362 (1880), translated in Gard. Chron. xv. 333 (1881). 



* Proc. Roy. Hort. Soc. xxxiv. p. ccxviii. (1909). 



s Sargent, Pinetum Wellesley, 13 (1905), who says that the inability of the Japanese cypresses to flourish in the eastern 

 United States for any length of time has been well shown at Wellesley, where of the several hundred individuals, in nearly all 

 the obtainable varieties, that had been planted at different times, few have survived. 



