14 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



elevation of 2,000 to 3,000 feet. The flowers I did not see, but 

 from the quantity of fruit produced it must be a very free- 

 flowering kind, and from the size of the buds it is not rash to 

 assume that the blooms are correspondingly large. This species 

 is new to the British Arboretum. Of the shrubby species, 

 M. stellata and M. parviflora should have a place in every garden. 



Belonging to the same family as the Magnolias is Cercido- 

 phyllum japonicum, the largest of the deciduous trees of Japan. 

 It occurs in its finest state in Hokkaido, where at the base of 

 the low hill slopes, in damp situations, it attains a height of 

 from 90 to 100 feet, with a trunk 3 to 4 feet in diameter ; but 

 more commonly it sends up a number of stems, which are united 

 together into a stout trunk 8 to 10 feet through, but which 

 gradually diverge at a comparatively short distance from the 

 ground. It occurs almost throughout the whole length of the 

 islands, and when growing at high elevations it forms a much 

 smaller tree, rapidly diminishing in size as its spreads south- 

 wards, till it becomes no larger than a good-sized bush. It is 

 in this form that it has been introduced into British gardens. 



Two Limes are indigenous to Japan. One is like the small - 

 leaved British species Tilia cordata ; the other, TiUa Miqueliana, 

 is a large tree, from 70 to 80 feet high, with a trunk 4 to 5 feet 

 in diameter. It has not so stately an aspect as our European 

 Lime, owing perhaps to its always being found crowded with 

 other trees. It is still very rare in British Arboreta, where it is 

 known under the name of Tilia mandshurica ; it is common in 

 the northern island, Hokkaido, and is quite hardy. 



Before turning to the Acers, which form the most conspicuous 

 feature of the deciduous forests, there is one sapindaceous tree 

 that should not be passed unnoticed ; this is JEsculus turbinatus, 

 the stateliest and largest of all the Horse Chestnuts, evidently 

 destined to become better known in this country than it is at 

 present, for it grows freely, and as a park tree it will be found 

 a most desirable subject, being quite distinct from the common 

 species. This noble tree owes its escape from destruction mainly 

 to the inaccessible positions in which it is found. As distin- 

 guished from our common Horse Chestnut, its foliage is of a 

 darker hue, its floral racemes are longer and more slender, and 

 its pale yellow flowers are smaller. 



Respecting the Maples, nearly all of which are now well known, 



