246 A MANUAL OF THE CONIFEK$. 



Retinospora obtusa is one of the most useful timber trees in Japan; 

 the wood is light, white, fine in grain, and susceptible of a. high 

 polish. The Japanese show the high estimation in which they hold 

 this tree by selecting its wood for the construction of their shrines 

 and temples. Eetinospora timber is also much used in houses, especially 

 for flooring; it resists decay in water and under ground for a long 

 period, and is on that account employed for posts, piers, &c, it is 

 also used in shipbuilding. As an ornamental tree . R. obtusa has 

 long been cultivated in Japan, where many beautiful and distinct 

 varieties of it have been obtained. One of the purposes for which 

 it is planted in that country is for the formation of avenues, in 

 which its fine proportions are very effective. In England it should 

 be planted only for ornamental purposes, and always in a moist 

 retentive soil, and sheltered from the north and north-east. 



Retinospora obtusa albo-picta resembles the ordinary form in 

 habit, but differs in having many of its young shoots creamy- 

 white, which . gives the plant a speckled and spotted appearance. 



Retinospora obtusa aurea is more fastigiate in habit than the 

 type, and has the branchlets and foliage of a deep golden-yellow, 

 which is highly developed during the growing season. It is one 

 of the most remarkable coloured Conifers in cultivation. 



Retinospora obtusa compacta. — A robust dwarf form, with the 

 stem much divided at the base, and the branches crowded and 

 more dense than in the species. The foliage is similar in colour 

 to that of B. obtusa. 



Retinospora obtusa gracilis aurea. — A beautiful tree, of pyra- 

 midal habit. The branches are spreading and elongated at their 

 extremities into slender sub-pendulous stems furnished with short 

 branchlets, which with their foliage when first formed, are of a 

 light clear yellow, but change to light green when mature. It is 

 one of the most graceful and attractive of all the varieties of 

 J?, obtusa. 



Retinospora obtusa nana does not form a tapering trunk like 

 the species, but has its stem much divided and sub-divided near the 

 ground into numerous erect and sub -erect slender branches. 



Retinospora obtusa pygmeea.— A singular little bush, rarely 



