68 A MANUAL OP THE C0NIFER2E. 



Habitat. — Fusi-yama, in the island of Nippon, Japan, at 4,000 

 feet elevation. 



Introduced by Mr. J. Q. Veitch in 1861. 



Not much is known respecting the quality of the timber of this fine 

 tree, but Mr. J. G. Veitch has inserted in the MS. Notes of his 

 " Tour in Japan " that it is good, and that many trees are annually 

 felled for building and other purposes. 



Abies Alcoquiana differs from A. Ajanensis in its more rapid growth, 

 its less rigid branchlets, in the form and structure of the leaves, the 

 lighter colour of the foliage, and in the more rounded and less deeply- 

 toothed cone scales. It is a handsome and stately tree, one of the 

 best of the Spruces for ornamental planting. 



Whether Siebold's Abies Jeaoensis belongs to A* Ajanensis or to 

 A. Alcoquiana cannot yet be decided with certainty. "While the leaves 

 are spine-tipped, and not unfrequently as -four-sided as those of A. 

 Alcoquiana, the cones brought by Mr. Maries from Yesso may be 

 pronounced identical with those of A. Ajanensis. The Yesso tree, 

 Mr. Maries informs us, is quite distinct both in habit and aspect from 

 either, whatever may be its botanical affinity, and we have, therefore, 

 provisionally retained it as distinct. 



Abies Alcoquiana was named by Mr. J. G. Veitch in compliment 

 to Sir Rutherford Alcock, British Minister at Yedo at the time of his 

 visit to Japan, and through whose kindness he was enabled to make - 

 the trip to Fusi-yama, where this and other fine Conifers were first 

 discovered. 



We regret to have to state that two distinct forms have been dis- 

 tributed by us under the name of Abies Alcoquiana. The cause of 

 this error has been already referred to in the description of A. Ajanensis, 

 the second of the two species hitherto called A. Alcoquiana. Besides 

 the error of distributing the two species under one name, there has 

 also arisen a further confusion in the nomenclature and published 

 botanical descriptions, which is fully discussed by Dr. Masters in his 

 recent paper in the Gardeners' Chronicle, vol. xiii., p. '212. 



Abies Engelmanni.— " In its most favourable localities, this 

 species makes a stately tree from 80 to 100 feet high, forming 

 a narrow sharply-tapering spire of a rather darkish hue; on 

 higher altitudes, it is a smaller nearly round-topped tree, very 

 much branched; on the highest summits, a prostrate and almost 

 creeping shrub. The wood is white and soft, neither knotty nor 

 resinous, and, therefore, esteemed for inside carpentery. The leaves 

 are variable, stouter than they usually are in A. alba or A. nigra, 



