108 



A MANUAL OF THE CONIFER*. 



and pointing forwards; they are variable in length, from half an 

 inch to 1 inch; emarginate on the sterile branches and obtuse at the 

 apex on the fertile ones; bright glossy green, with a sunk middle 

 line above, and with a prominent mid-rib and lateral nerves beneath, 

 between which are two silvery lines. The cones are sub-cylindrical, 

 erect, purplish-brown, from 2 J to 2£ inches long, and from three- 

 quarters to seven-eighths of an inch in diameter, composed of 

 horizontal reniform scales so closely packed that the usual spiral 

 arrangement is not easy to trace, each enclosing a short wedge- 

 shaped bract, as long as the scale. 



Habitat. — Japan, on Mount Fusi-Tama, at from 6,000 to 7,000 

 feet elevation; also on Mkko, from 6,000 to 8,000 feet elevation. 



Introduced by us in 1879, through our collector, Mr. Maries. 



~ as _i_~L 



IBIIillfiiHli 





This beautiful and interesting tree, which 

 Dr. Lindley characterised as " a most re- 

 markable species," and which he named 

 after Mr. J. G. Veitch, by whom it was 

 discovered in 1860, has long been a 

 desideratum which we have now the 

 satisfaction of supplying, through the energy 

 and .perseverance of our collector, Mr. 

 Maries. Although closely allied to Abies 

 sachalinensis, described above, so much so 

 that by some botanists the latter is 

 regarded as only a variety — they differ in 

 a horticultural point of view in several 

 important particulars. A. Veitclvii is essen- 

 tially an alpine tree, being rarely met with 

 in a wild state below 5,000 feet elevation, 

 attaining its finest proportions on the south 

 and south-western slopes of the central 

 mountains of Japan. A. sachalinensis is a 

 lowland tree, growing in the plains of 

 Saghalien, and on the south-east coast of 

 Yesso. It is a larger tree than A. Veitehii, 

 having longer branches, so that its pyra- 

 midal outline appears much broader at the base ; the leaves, too, are 

 longer, and the cones are easily distinguished from those of A. Veitehii 

 by the more regularly arranged scales, and by the protruding reflexed 

 bracts. 



Young plants of Abies Veitehii have withstood the severe winter of 

 1879-80 uninjured, and the hardiness of the species is thence assuredi 



Fig. 28. — Cone of Abies Veifchii, from 

 Mount Nikko. Natural size. 



