Page:TheTreesOfGreatBritainAndIreland vol03B.djvu/142

528 small, weakly plicate, the nerves being only slightly impressed above, about 2 inches long by ⅞ inch broad, ovate, acute at the apex, unequal and slightly cordate at the base; margin bi-serrate, ciliate ; upper surface dark green, shining, with scattered, appressed hairs; lower surface-as in C. orzentalzs; nerves nine to twelve pairs ; petiole, ¼ to ⅜ inch, pilose ; stipules linear, pubescent along the margins, } inch long, persistent during summer. Fruit : strobiles 2 inches long; bracts loosely imbricated, obliquely ovate, ½ inch long, outer margin slightly serrate, inner margin sub-entire, not lobed, without a basal auricle.

This species is a rare tree in the mountains of Eastern Szechwan and Western Hupeh in China ; and is closely allied to, if not a mere variety of, C. Zurczaninownt, Hance, which is common in Northern China. C. polyneura differs little in technical characters from C. orientalis, but is very distinct in appearance owing to the leaves being smooth and flat and not deeply plicate, as in the other species of hornbeam.

It is only represented in cultivation by a single tree, about 15 feet high, in Kew Gardens, which was raised from seed sent by me in 1889.

A tree attaining in Japan 50 feet in height and 5 feet in girth; bark furrowed and scaly. Young branchlets with scattered long hairs, which fall off in autumn. Leaves (Plate 201, Fig. 1) ovate-oblong, up to 4 inches long by 1% inch broad, acuminate at the apex, oblique at the base, which is rounded or slightly cordate ; margin finely bi-serrate, non-ciliate; upper surface dark green, pubescent on the midrib and nerves ; lower surface pale green, with scattered long hairs on the midrib and nerves and slight axil tufts; nerves, eighteen to twenty-four pairs, impressed above; petiole ½ inch long, pubescent; stipules ½ inch long, linear - lanceolate, pubescent, persistent during summer. Fruit: strobiles 2½ inches long ; bracts densely imbricated, ¾ to ⅞ inch long, ovate, sharply serrate; nutlet covered by a minute orbicular lobe, attached merely by its base to the bract, the outer margin of the latter being slightly infolded below.

This species is a native of central and southern Japan, and, according to Sargent, is common on the Hakone and Nikko Mountains between 2000 and 3000 feet elevation. It was collected near Nikko by Elwes, and at Nagasaki by Oldham.

It was introduced by Maries in 1879; but no trees of this date are now to be found, there being only small plants about 3 feet high in the Coombe Wood Nursery. It is perfectly hardy in New England, where it produced fruit for the first time in 1891 in the Arnold Arboretum, where it had been introduced a few years previously.