15 16 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



GLEDITSCHIA JAPONICA 



Gleditschia japonica, Miquel, in Ann. Mus. Bot. Ludg. Bat. iii. 54 (1867); Franchet et Savatier, 



Emtm. PL Jap. \. 114 (1875) and ii. 327 (1879); Maximowicz, Mel. Biol. xii. 452 (1886); 



Sargent, in Garden and Forest, vi. 163, t. 27 (1893), and Forest Flora Japan, 35, t. 1 1 (1894); 



Shirasawa, Icon. Ess. Forest. Japon, i. text, 87, t. 51, figs. 15 to 30 (1900). 

 Gleditschia horrida,^ Makino, in Tokyo Bot. Mag. xvii. 12 (1903); Schneider, Laubliolzkunde, ii. 11 



(1907). 

 Fagara horrida, Thunberg, in Trans. Linn. Soc. ii. 329 (1794). 



A tree, attaining in Japan 60 to 70 ft. in height, with a trunk occasionally 3 ft. 

 in diameter. Young branchlets glabrous, purplish. Leaves similar to those of 

 G. caspica, but with the leaflets apparently narrower, always lanceolate, tapering to a 

 rounded or acute (not emarginate) apiculate apex, and, without glands on the midrib 

 of the upper surface ; lower surface slightly pubescent on the midrib. 



Pods thin, flattened, about 10 to 14 in. long, falcate, often twisted, shining or 

 glaucous, brown, glabrescent, without dot-like pits on the surface. Seeds numerous, 

 situated towards the upper suture of the pod, oval, flattened, about ^ in. long, 

 marked with transverse lines. 



This species is closely allied to, if not really identical with G. caspica; but the 

 material examined has been insufficient for determination. The purplish colour of 

 the young branchlets in cultivated specimens of G. japonica may not be a constant 

 character. 



This species is a native of Japan, Manchuria, Korea,^ and north China. In 

 Japan, it is rare towards the north, where it is occasionally seen on the banks of 

 rivers at no great altitude. It is more abundant and attains its largest size on the 

 banks of the Kisogawa and other streams in the centre of the main island at eleva- 

 tions of about 2000 ft., where it thrives best in rich alluvial soil, though it is often 

 seen on gravelly slopes. The pulp of the pods is much used for washing cloth 

 by the Japanese, who call the tree Saikachi. 



In Manchuria, it is said by Komarov^to be wild in the neighbourhood of 

 Mukden ; and there are specimens in the Kew herbarium collected by Ross and 

 Webster in other districts. Bretschneider also sent this species to Kew from the 

 neighbourhood of Peking. 



The only specimen which we have seen in England is a tree at Kew, about 

 15 ft. high, obtained from Yokohama in 1894. A young tree at Verrieres, raised 

 from Chinese seed, appears to belong to this species. (A. H.) 



1 This name is inadvisable, as G. horrida, Willdenow, Sp. PI. iv. 2. p. 1098 (1806), is a synonym of G, sinensis, 

 Lamarck. 



2 Cf. T. Nakai, mjoum. Set. Coll. Tokyo, xxvi. 142 (1910), who records a variety of this species without spines from 

 Korea. His G. caspica from the same region is doubtless G. japonica. 



3 In Act. Hort. Petrop. xxii. 566 (1904). 



