920 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



ZELKOVA ACUMINATA 



Zelkova acuminata, Planchon, in Compt. Rend. Acad. Paris, Ixxiv. 1496 (1872), and DC. Prod. xvii. 



166 (1873). 

 Zelkova Keaki, Maximowicz, Mil. Biol. ix. 21 (1872); Sargent, Garden and Forest, vi. 323, fig. 49 



(1893); Shirasawa, Icon. Ess. Forest. Japon, text (>s, t. 36, figs. 1-17 (1900); Mayr, 



Fremdldnd. Wald- u. Parkbdume, 525, figs. 247-249 (1906). 

 Zelkova serrata, Makino, in Tokyo Bot. Mag. xvii. 13 (1903). 

 Zelkova hirta, Schneider, Laubholzkunde, i. 806 (1906). 

 Corchorus hirtus, Thunberg, Fl. Jap. 228 (1784). 

 Ulmus Keaki, Siebold, Verh. Bat. Gen. xii. 28 (1830). 

 Planera acuminata, Lindley, Gard. Chron. 1862, p. 428 

 Planera japonica, Miquel, Ann. Mus. Bot, Lugd. iii. 66 (1867). 

 Planera Keaki, Koch, Dendrol. ii. i. 427 (1872). 

 Abelicea Keaki, Schneider, Dendrol. Winterstudien, 238 (1903). 

 Abelicea hirta, Schneider, Laubholzkunde, i. 226 (1904). 



A tree attaining in Japan 120 feet in height and 15 feet or more in girth. 

 Bark smooth, greyish, resembling that of a beech, but on old trees dividing on the 

 surface into irregular rounded scaly plates. Branchlets slender, at first with a 

 scattered slight pubescence, but becoming glabrous in summer. Leaves (Plate 267, 

 Fig. 7), membranous, thinner than those of the Caucasian species, about 3 inches long 

 and \\ inch broad, ovate, with a long acuminate apex, slightly cordate and unequal 

 at the base ; nerves, nine to twelve pairs, each ending in the long, sharp, often 

 recurved tip of a serration ; margin ciliate at first, the cilia falling off in summer ; 

 upper surface dark green, with scattered, short, stiff hairs ; lower surface light 

 green, at first slightly pubescent, becoming glabrous in summer ; petiole j\ to \ 

 inch, glabrescent. 



Fruit about \ inch broad, sub-globose, oblique, with a concave depression on 

 either side of a transverse ridge on the upper surface, which bears the remains of 

 the styles ; prominently veined, glabrescent. 



In winter the twigs are glabrous, and the buds are minute, ovoid, uniformly 

 brown in colour, with glabrous slightly ciliate scales. 



Distribution 



Zelkova acuminata occurs in China and Korea, as well as in Japan, but appears 

 to be only common in China in the Tsin-Ling mountain in Shensi, where it was 

 collected by Pere Giraldi.^ It has also been found * in the province of Chekiang, 

 on the hills near the Taihoo Lake, and on the mountains inland from Ningpo. 

 Carles " collected it near Seoul in Korea. 



It is much more widely distributed in Japan, occurring throughout Kiushiu, 

 Shikoku, and Honshu, forming forests in mixture with maple, beech, Qmrcus 

 grosseserrata, and other broad-leaved trees. According to Shirasawa, it is usually of 

 branching habit in the forest, the tallest and stoutest trees being those cultivated 



1 Diels, in Engler,/a^r*. xxxvi. No. S, p. 33 (1905). 2 Hemsley, >«r«. Linn. Soc. {Bot.), xxvi. 449 (1894). 



