952 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



the Caucasus, and in the provinces of Asterabad and Ghilan in Persia, where Dr. 

 Stapf informs me that he has seen large trees south of the Caspian Sea. 



It is closely allied to, if not identical with Alnus orientalis, Decaisne, a native 

 of Asia Minor and Cyprus. The latter has not been introduced, so far as we know, 

 into English or continental gardens. 



It was known in cultivation a good many years ago in France, as Gay records' 

 a tree 30 feet high growing at Verrieres in 1861 ; but we are unaware of the exact 

 date of its introduction into England. It appears to grow as well and to be as hardy 

 in England as A. cordata ; and a fine tree, growing near the lake in Kew Gardens, 

 is 52 feet high and 4 feet 10 inches in girth. There is a small specimen at Aldenham. 



(A. H.) 



ALNUS FIRMA 



Alnus firma, Siebold et Zuccarini, Abh. Akad. Munchen, iv. 3. p. 230 (1845); Sargent, Forest Flora 



Japan, 63 (1894); Winkler, Betulacea, 102 (1904). 

 Alnus Sieboldiana, Matsumura, _/ci«r«. Coll. Sci. Tokyo, xvi. 5, p. 3 (1902). 

 Alnus y as ha, Matsumura, op. cit. p. 4 (1902). 

 Alnus pendula, Matsumura, op. cit. p. 6 (1902). 

 Alnus multinervis, Schneider, Laubholzkunde, 123 (1904). 



A tree, attaining in Japan a height of 30 feet, but usually smaller. Young 

 branchlets three-angled at the tip, pubescent. Leaves (Plate 268, Fig. 2) about 4 

 inches long and if inch broad, plicate ; nerves deeply immersed above and very 

 prominent beneath, about fifteen to eighteen pairs, running parallel and straight 

 to the margin ; ovate-lanceolate, rounded and unequal at the base, acuminate at the 

 apex ; upper surface dark green, shining, glabrous ; lower surface light green, 

 pubescent, the pubescence strongest on the midrib and nerves ; margin finely and 

 regularly serrate, ciliate ; petiole \ inch, pilose ; stipules often persistent, ovate- 

 lanceolate, \ inch long, membranous, glabrous. Buds sessile, conical, long-pointed, 

 curved, green, glabrous, with two external scales. 



Flowers appearing in spring. Staminate catkins terminal or lateral, i to 2\ 

 inches long. Pistillate catkins, one, two, or three to five, arising from one bud. 

 Cones, solitary or racemose, variable in size, ^ to i inch long, in the different 

 varieties. Nutlets, obovate-oblong or sub-rhomboid with a membranous wing.. 



This alder displays great variation in Japan, no less than three distinct species 

 being recognised by Matsumura and Schneider. These appear to be geographical 

 varieties : — 



I. Var. multinervis, Regel in Btill. Soc, Nat. Mosc. xxxviii. 2. 423 (1865), and 

 in DC. Prod. xvi. 2, p. 183 (1868). Alnus pendula, Matsumura. Alnus multinervis 

 Schneider. 



Branchlets pubescent. Leaves with numerous lateral nerves, eighteen 

 pairs or more. Cones in pendulous racemes, f inch long. This form is the 



1 Note with a specimen in Kew Herbarium. This tree is not mentioned in Hortus Vilmorinianus (1906). 



