Picea polita 
Natwwe of Japan. 
Nat. Order: ConiFERa. Tribe: ABIETINEA. 
Picea polita, Carriére, “Traité Conif.” ed. i. 256 (1855); Veitch, 
Manual, ed. ii. 446 (1900) ; Adzes polita, Siebold and 
Zuccarini, “Fl. Jap.” ii. 20. t. 111 (1842). 
Of the numerous fine species both of flowering shrubs and 
coniferous trees for which we are indebted to Japan, I think 
Picea polita is one of the most valuable and most distinct, and 
certainly it is one of the hardiest of them all—in fact it will, 
so far as my experience goes, stand any amount of exposure 
without being injured in the least. It grows fast when esta- 
blished in a moderately heavy loam, making a leader of more 
than a foot each year, though in a young state it does not 
grow more than six inches in that time. The bark and 
buds are of a yellowish-brown, the leaves being pale green in 
colour and very prickly and hard in texture. This tree was 
planted in the Spring of 1884, and is at present nineteen 
feet high, measuring at the ground forty-two feet round 
the branches. It has borne cones regularly for several years. 
41 
