772< The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



Identification 



This species is similar in the arrangement and size of the leaves to A. Veitchii; 

 but is distinguishable from that and from all other species of Abies, by the rusty-red 

 or chocolate colour of the densely tomentose branchlets. The leaves are shorter and 

 broader in proportion than those of A. Veitchii, being widest in their upper third, 

 with their apex rounded and not truncate as in that species. The two species differ 

 also in the position of the resin-canals, (A. H.) 



History and Distribution 



This species was discovered^ in 1878, by Charles Maries, when collecting for 

 Messrs. Veitch, on Mount Hakkoda near Aomori in northern Hondo ; and for some 

 years it was supposed to occur only in the main island of Japan, where Mayr gives 

 its distribution as from lat. 36" to the extreme northerly point of the island. It has 

 since been found, according to Sargent,^ by Tokubuchi in 1892 in one place on the 

 shores of southern Yezo ; ' and Dr. Honda lately discovered it in Formosa on Mount 

 Morrison at 10,000 feet elevation. 



Sargent saw it on Mount Hakkoda, and says that it is common at about 5000 

 feet, scattered amongst deciduous trees, and is the only species of Abies in this 

 locality, where it forms a compact pyramid, 40 to 50 feet high, with crowded branches 

 and many large dark purple cones. Maries also found it on Nantai above Nikko, 

 which I had not time to ascend ; Mr. Tome Shirasawa, who was my companion in 

 North Japan, says that it grows here in company with Abies Veitchii on the upper 

 zone of the mountain at 7000 to 8000 feet. The tree according to Mayr is the 

 smallest of all the Japanese silver firs, its maximum height being 80 feet, with a 

 girth of about 6 feet. It is known in Japan as Aomori-todo-matsu, and, so far as I 

 could learn, has no economic value. 



Cultivation 



Seeds were sent home by Maries in 1879, but gave poor results ; and we have 

 not found anywhere in this country a single tree of any size ; but Mr. Bean* has seen 

 a small but healthy tree at Scone Palace in Perthshire. As seen in the nursery at 

 Kew and Coombe Wood, it is very slow and feeble in growth, and apparently is not 

 suited to the English climate, young plants usually having very small leaves 

 and short shoots. There are, however, three flourishing young trees at Bayford- 

 bury, which were obtained from Hesse's nursery at Weener, in Hanover. It seems 

 to do very much better in America, where I saw a vigorous tree ' growing at Mr. 

 Hunnewell's pinetum at Wellesley, Massachusetts. Reputed trees oi Abies Mariesii 

 usually turn out on examination to be Abies Veitchii. (H. J. E.) 



1 Hortus Veitchii, 336 (1906). 2 Forest Flora of Japan, 82 (1894). 



3 But Prof. Miyabe told me in 1904 that he had seen no specimens from this place, and doubted its occurrence in 

 Hokkaido. He had specimens in his herbarium from Nambu near Morioka. * Card. Chron. xli. 117 (1907). 



<> Reported to be 9 feet high, by Sargent, in The Pinetum at Wellesley in igos, P- I3- 



