308 A MANUAL OF THE CONIFER*. 



inch to 2 inches long, arranged in two opposite rows, regularly- 

 opposite, coriaceous in texture and yellowish-green in colour. It 

 was discovered by Mr. Fortune, in North China, in 1849. 



Oephalotaxus Portunei has the finest foliage of the three kinds 

 in cultivation. The leaves are upwards of 3 inches long, gradually 

 tapering to a point, distinctly one-nerved, dark green above,- much 

 lighter beneath ; the bark of the young growth is of the same 

 colour as the under surface of the leaves and furrowed. 



Introduced from North China by Mr. Fortune at the same time 

 as the preceding. 



Oephalotaxus pedunculata.— A shrub, with spreading branches, 

 clothed with distichously arranged foliage; the leaves are from 

 1 inch to 2 inches long, bright green above and marked with two 

 broad glaucous lines beneath. 



It was introduced from Japan in 1837 under the name of Taxus 

 Harringtoniana, by which name it is often known in collections. 



Oephalotaxus pedunculata fastigiata.— A very distinct and 

 ornamental variety of the preceding, with the habit of the Irish 

 Yew, and showing a similar departure from the normal form in 

 the arrangement of the leaves. The branches are as erect as the 

 trunk, and the leaves are scattered or spirally arranged around 

 them. It was introduced from Japan in 1861. 



This plant, which has now hecome common in British gardens, is 

 better known among horticulturists as Podocarpus horaianus or Taxus 

 japonica than the name under which we have described it. That it 

 is no other than a variety of Oephalotaxus pedunculata, M. Carriere has 

 clearly demonstrated.* He remarks that " the doubts I exjjressed in my 

 former edition relative to the specific value of Podocarpus Ttoraianus 

 are realised, and, as I suspected, instead of a Podocarp it is an accidental 

 fastigiate form of C. peduncidata. I have seen a strong plant of this 

 variety which, at 2 feet from the ground, had developed lateral 

 branches with distichous foliage, and which, at that point, had formed 

 a verticil like a projecting stage, while the parts both above and below 

 were quite upright." We have ourselves observed a similar case in 

 Lady Eolle's Pinetum at Bicton : — An unusually fine and vigorous 

 plant of 0. pedunculata fastigiata has several branches growing in 



* TraiU Gin&ral des Conifires, p. 717. 



