Betula 979 



BETULA ULMIFOLIA 



Betula ulmifolia, Siebold et Zuccarini, in Abh. Bayer. Akad. Wiss. iv. 3, 228 (1846); Winkler, 

 Betulacew, 62 (1904) (in part); Schneider, Laubholzkunde, i. loi (1904). 



A tree, attaining in Japan 70 feet in height and 8 feet in girth. Bark described 

 as greyish-brown, smooth, shining, not separating into thin layers, and resembling 

 that of Prunus pseudocerasus. Young branchlets covered with a white, short, some- 

 what appressed pubescence. Leaves, about 3 inches long, i\ inch wide, narrowly 

 ovate or ovate-oblong, unequally cordate ^ at the base, acuminate at the apex ; 

 margin ciliate, bi-serrate, with falcate serrations ; nerves twelve to fourteen pairs ; 

 upper surface with appressed, long, brownish hairs both on the midrib and nerves, 

 and in bands between the nerves ; lower surface similarly pilose on the midrib and 

 nerves, gland-dotted and glabrous between the nerves ; petiole \ inch, pilose. 



Fruiting catkins, on short pilose peduncles, about f inch long and \ inch in 

 diameter, ovoid ; scales pubescent, ciliate, strongly veined, with the central lobe 

 oblong and obtuse, nearly twice as long as the ovate rounded lateral lobes ; nutlets 

 with narrow wings. 



This species is extremely rare in cultivation, the only specimen which we have 

 seen being a tree, about 8 feet high, in Kew Gardens, which was raised from seed, 

 received under the name B. grossa^ S. et Z., from Tokyo in 1896. It is identical 

 with the type specimen of ^. ulmifolia, S. et Z., preserved in the Munich herbarium, 

 with which we have compared it. 



This species, together with B. grossa, S. et Z., B. carpinifolia, S. et Z., both 

 natives of Japan, and B. costata, Trautvetter, a native of Manchuria, are closely 

 allied ; and our knowledge of their exact relationship and distribution is very 

 imperfect. It is possible that B. grossa and B. carpinifolia are varieties or 

 hybrids of B. ulmifolia, while B. costata is the continental geographical form of the 

 same species. 



Shirasawa,^ whose figures of B. grossa and B. ulmifolia do not in either case 

 exactly agree with the type specimen of the latter species, says that both these species 

 are spread throughout the central chain of Hondo, and occur also in Kiushiu and 

 Shikoku. B. ulmifolia, which is the representative in Japan of the American 

 B. lutea, differs much in bark and other characters from B. Ermani, with which it 

 has been confused. (A. H.) 



I saw a very fine birch which my guide and companion, Mr. Mochizuki of the 

 Japanese Forest Service, called B. grossa, growing in the forest of central Japan, at 

 Ongawa, about 3000 feet above the sea ; and measured specimens 80 to 90 feet high. 



1 The leaves on the lower part of the branchlet and on the short shoots are markedly cordate ; those on the upper part 

 of the branchlet are usually truncate or rounded at the base. 



2 Similarly a dried specimen at Kew, collected in the Etchu province on Mt. Tateyama, and labelled B. grossa by the 

 Tokyo University Science College, is identical with B. ulmifolia. It bears the Japanese name Yoguso-minebari. 



3 Icon. Ess. Forest. Japan, text, 42, 43, t. 22 (1900). 



