Cultural History 



Carl Maximowicz (1827-1891) first introduced /. crenata into the Western 

 World in 1864, bringing it from Japan to the Czar's garden in St. 

 Petersburg (Leningrad), Russia. Although Maximowicz' s (1881) own 

 writings were not clear on the subject of his introductions, Bretschneider 

 (1898) credited Maximowicz with the introduction of/, crenata into the 

 West. From this initial introduction into Russia, /. crenata became 

 available to other European countries, probably initially to France. Since 

 /. crenata is not well adapted in European climates, only a few European 

 selections have been identified and named. For this reason, the species has 

 never gained the popularity in Europe that it has in the United States. 

 While introduction into the West is dated at 1 864, /. crenata was 

 cultivated in Japan at much earlier dates. Maximowicz (1881) observed 

 and made collections from plants in cultivation in Japan but made no 

 mention of the extent of local use. 



In the Western World there has been a distinct neglect of examining and 

 citing early Japanese horticultural art and literature. Ancient Japanese 

 literature relating to the cultivation and selection of Ilex exists but is 

 scarcely known. Kato (1975) listed seven early Japanese references, dated 

 between 1652 and 1847, that mention or illustrate Ilex selections, 

 including /. crenata. Two references are of considerable interest since 

 facsimiles with annotations have been published. Iinuma (1832) illustrated 

 four variegated selections of /. crenata. In another publication, Kinata 

 (1813) illustrated six variegated selections. None of the annotations can be 

 interpreted with cultivar names except 'NUMMULARIA', which was 

 applied by Kitamura (1976) (see Iinuma 1832) in his annotation of an 

 illustration in Iinuma. The name 'NUMMULARIA' did not appear in the 

 original script associated with the illustration. Since many plants of 

 Japanese origin are now widely grown in the United States and other 

 countries, it would be desirable and enlightening if more ancient 

 gardening literature from Eastern Asia were published in facsimile and the 

 facsimile annotated and translated. 



Ilex crenata has been introduced from Japan many times since 1 864 as 

 seeds and plants from the wild and from cultivation. Some of the early 

 known introductions into the United States directly from Japan were made 

 for the Arnold Arboretum by C.S. Sargent in 1898 and by E.H. Wilson in 

 1900. Numerous private, commercial, and government collections 

 continue to this day. During the 1950's and 1960's, J. L. Creech (former 

 Director of the U.S. National Arboretum) made numerous collections from 

 the wild in Japan for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Plants 

 from these collections were widely distributed from the USDA's Plant 

 Introduction Station (now known as the National Plant Germplasm 



