THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES 
XII. THE PIGMIES AND DWARFS 
ERNEST H. WILSON 
Assistant Director, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University 
Consequent upon Their Prolonged Struggle with Hostile Elements is the Diminutive Size, Well 
Established in Some Instances, Less Fixed in Others, which Distinguishes Certain Varieties 
ftjUTNREVlOUS articles have dealt with the patriarchs, the 
Jlj giants, and the eccentric types of tree-growth ; also with 
trees of general utilitarian interest. In this, the final 
\a Id article of the series, it remains to treat of the pygmy 
forms which also have their niche in Nature’s scheme. A 
number of these plants, the dwarf Conifers in particular, have 
considerable garden value. Most people are familiar with the 
dwarfed trees of Japan which in recent years have been much in 
demand in this country and in Europe. 1 shall have something 
to sav about these later; but first let us consider the diminutive 
forms of tree-growth produced by Nature to suit the exactions 
of exposed situations and severity of climate. 
In the rich valleys and on the lower, sheltered slopes of 
mountains grow the giants of the tree world. On the higher 
parts of mountain ranges the wind exercises a strong influence on 
vegetation, diminishing the height of trees, reducing them on 
the topmost regions to a low, scrubby growth. On seacoasts the 
wind has full play and the same effects are seen; also on broad 
plains and plateaux. In short, the effect of strong winds 
everywhere is to retard tree growth. And so it comes about 
that on the coasts, open plains, plateaux, and the summits of 
mountains, dwarf, stunted forms of tree-growth are common. 
These adaptations to environment, or ecological forms, as 
they are technically called, are often very distinct from the 
parent types; but if seedlings are raised and cultivated under 
normal conditions they usually revert to their ancestral forms. 
For example, the upper slopes of Mt. Fuji, in Japan, are clothed 
almost exclusively with dwarf Larch, which is merely an 
ecological form of the type that, in the forests which cover the 
base and lower slopes of the mountain, grows full 80 feet tall. 
Near its altitudinal limits the gnarled stems of this dwarf 
fairly hug the lava and cinders. 
Some twenty-eight years ago seeds from this prostrate form 
were sown in the Arnold Arboretum; but the plants raised from 
them have rapidly grown into tall trees, and to-day are quite 
indistinguishable from others raised at the same time from the 
typical Larch tree of the lower forest zone. Of course there are 
genuine dwarfs which cannot be persuaded to grow into any- 
thing else, no matter how they be propagated; but in general 
the stunted forms of tree types have to be increased by cuttings 
or by grafting, or they lose their diminutive character. 
Besides the wild pigmies of tree-growth which are the product 
of the eternal war waged beween the Vegetable Kingdom and 
the elemental physical forces of Nature, represented by tempera- 
ture, winds, and precipitation, there are others of similar ap- 
pearance which from time to time have appeared among trees 
long associated with our gardens and pleasure grounds. In fact 
many of the dwarf trees best known are of this origin. The 
Japanese are passionately fond of pigmy trees and their skill in 
developing them by starvation, clipping, and grafting exceeds 
that of any other nation. 
Among the familiar types of deciduous leaved trees of our 
northern forests — the Oaks, Beeches, Birches, Alders, Chestnuts, 
Elms and others — there are scrubby forms. Some of the 
dwarf evergreen Oaks of western North America, eastern Asia 
and the Mediterranean are worthy plants when climate admits 
ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING AS WELL AS ONE OF THE MOST WIDELY KNOWN OF THE GREAT PINE FAMILY 
Spreading and rugged, the frequently planted Pinus montana var. Mughus (commonly called the Mugho Pine) occa- 
sionally astonishes by reaching the stature of a real tree though its usual habit is to stay fairly close to the ground 
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