THE CONIFER^E OF JAPAN. 



21 



peculiar to that country, viz., Sciadopitys. The thirteen genera 

 comprise forty-one species exclusive of varieties and doubtful 

 natives, distributed thus : — The Silver Firs (Abies) have four 

 endemic species in Japan, and two others common to Japan and 

 North-east Asia ; of Picea (the Spruce Firs) there are five species, 

 three of which are peculiar to Japan ; and of Tsuga (the Hemlock 

 Spruce) there are two species. Larix has one species peculiar to 

 Japan ; Pinus has five species, but none of them endemic. Thuya 

 (including Thuyopsis, Biota, and Eetinospora) has four species 

 peculiar to Japan, including T. japonica or Standishii, and one 

 common to Japan and China ; Juniperus is represented by five 

 species, of which two are common to Japan and China. Crypto- 

 meria also occurs both in Japan and China. Cephalotaxus is 

 represented by three species ; one Yew is peculiar to Japan, 

 another is common to that country and China ; Torreya has 

 one species, and Podocarpus four. It may therefore be said that 

 there are forty- one species of Conifers in Japan, of which no 

 fewer than twenty-two are endemic." Up to the time of the pub- 

 lication of Siebold's " Flora " scarcely half a dozen of the endemic 

 species were accurately known to science ; thirty years ago only 

 three of them were known in British gardens ; at the present 

 time, with the exception of two or three northern species un- 

 suited to our climate, we have them all in our midst, both those 

 peculiar to Japan and those common to that and other countries, 

 some thriving better than others, but by far the greater number 

 sufficiently acclimatised and playing a conspicuous role in the de- 

 coration of our gardens and parks. 



This enumeration reveals the startling fact that, in proportion 

 to the area of the country, the Flora of Japan includes more 

 coniferous species than that of any other country in the world, 

 and enormously in excess of the same element in the Flora of 

 Great Britain, which includes only three indigenous species, the 

 Scotch Fir, the common Juniper, and the Yew ; yet the geographical 

 position of the two groups of islands, Japanese and British, the 

 one lying on the eastern and the other on the western side of the 

 great Euro-Asiatic continent, although not similar are somewhat 

 analogous, for while our group lies between the 50th and 60th 

 parallels of north latitude, the Japanese group lies between the 

 30th and 45th parallels, that is to say, from 15 to 20 degrees 

 nearer the equator than we are. 



