30 JOURNAL OP THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



in most other parts of England, the finest specimens in England 

 are to be found. 



Cryptomeria japonica is now become one of the most fami- 

 liar of Japanese Conifers, yet it is a remarkable fact that the 

 Cryptomeria we so often see is not the Japanese type, but a 

 variety of it brought from Shanghai in China by Fortune'^in 1844 ; 

 but it may perhaps be accepted as the representative of the 

 Chinese type, for there is now suf&cient evidence at hand to 

 show that the Cryptomeria is indigenous to both countries. 

 Much nearer the Japanese type is the variety known as Lobb's 

 Cryptomeria, which was introduced from the botanic garden at 

 Buitenzorg in Java ten years later than the Shanghai form. 

 Maries sent us in 1879 what he affirms to be the true Cryptomeria 

 japonica, but any opinion at the present time as to its merits 

 as an ornamental tree would be premature. The two forms intro- 

 duced by Fortune and Lobb respectively are too well known to 

 need description ; the variability in habit of the one and the 

 comparative constancy of the other have been frequently 

 remarked. Of the numerous varieties and sub-varieties of 

 Japanese origin that called elegans is well known as the most 

 distinct and most useful for ornamental planting. Its striking 

 aspect and peculiar hue in winter is owing to the foliage con- 

 sisting entirely of the primordial leaves ; hence it is what 

 is called a juvenile or larval form, a phenomenon by no means 

 unusual among the Conifer^e, especially in the Cypress tribe. 

 Betinospora squarrosa, B. ericoides, Biota meldensis, B. de- 

 cussata (all properly Thuyas) are instances of perpetuated 

 juvenile forms. Perhaps the most curious fact about Crypto- 

 meria japonica elegans is that it retains its primordial character 

 so long. Trees of it from twenty to twenty-five years old 

 show no tendency to develop the normal foliage of the species, 

 although a slight difference in habit among them is observable, 

 due probably to local circumstances. At Linton a tree nearly 

 30 feet high presents to the eye a dense mass of foliage with 

 an irregular outline caused by the weight of snow resting upon 

 it last winter ; at Tortworth the trees are more formal, more 

 open, and the bole more or less exposed. In the more humid 

 climate of Cornwall, at Tregothnan and Scorrier for example, 

 where they grow more rapidly, their tops bend down under the 

 weight of the branches and foliage, and during the storm of last 



