78 A MANUAL OF THE CONIFBEJE. 



branchlets, which are remarkably rigid and robust, and covered with 

 a yellowish cream-coloured bark, on which the decurrent bases of 

 the leaves are prominent. The leaves, which are produced on all 

 sides of the branches and their ramifications rather distant from 

 each other, are spirally arranged around them; they are short, 

 erect, rigid, slightly falcate, and very sharp - pointed, distinctly 

 tetragonal, but compressed, with the faces slightly hollowed. The 

 cones are ellipsoid, from 3 to 4 inches long, with light brown 

 coriaceous scales, minutely notched at the edge. 



Habitat. — The mountains in the north of the island of Nippon.* 



Introduced in 1861 by Mr. J. G-. Veitch. 



The leading characters of Abies polita described above do not adequately 

 convey a just idea of this beautiful Fir, which should have a place 

 in the most select collection of Conifers. It is especially suitable as a 

 specimen tree for the lawn; and, as a picturesque tree for the park, it is 

 one of the most distinct. Its growth is free, its constitution > hardy, 

 and it would not be easy to name any Japanese Conifer that has better 

 accommodated itself to the climate of Great Britain than A. polita. 



In its native, country, as the tree becomes old the branchlets and 

 terminal growths become flaccid and pendulous, as in Abies Smithiana, 

 to which, by the structure of its cones and other parts, it is nearly 

 allied. The leaves, too, of old trees are a little longer, less robust, 

 and more appressed to the branches than those in the young plants. 

 It has thence acquired the name of " Torano-wo momi," or the Tiger's- 

 tail Fir, among the Japanese. 



The specific name, polita, " polished," or " adorned," probably has 

 reference to the lustrous smoothness of the foliage, and especially of 

 the scales that protect the buds before they start into growth. 



Abies Smithiana, also known among British horticulturists by 

 its synonym, A. MorindaJ is a very handsome Fir. Its pyramidal 

 habit is rendered strikingly beautiful by the terminal and lateral 

 branchlets being as pendulous as those of a "Weeping Willow. 

 The foliage is dense and light in colour; the leaves are from 

 1 to 2 inches long, slender in proportion to their length, ap- 

 pressed to the branchlets, and curved inwards. The cones are 



* Pines and Firs of Japan, by A. Murray, p. 80. Siebold & Zuc, Flora Jap., p. 21. 



t From the many Christian and barbarous names by which this Fir is known I select 

 the native one. Morinda, in the native dialect, means "Nectar drops," or "Honey 

 tears," from the resinous drops or tears upon the cones and bark resembling honey. It 

 is also named Khutrow, which is, doubtless, a misnomer of the Silma vernacular 

 "Khudrow," or "Noodrow," -weeping.— Senilis in Pinacece, p. 49, 



