Page:TheTreesOfGreatBritainAndIreland vol03B.djvu/145

Rh stipules caducous. Fruit: strobiles, up to 3 inches long; bracts very loosely imbricated, about ⅝ inch long, semi-ovate, outer side irregularly serrate, inner side sub-entire, with a lobe near the base, which is infolded, but does not conceal the nutlet.

This species is a native of China and Japan. According to Sargent, it is very like the European hornbeam in habit, fluted stem, and smooth bark. It is common in all the mountain forests of Hondo, where it is most abundant at elevations between 2000 and 3000 feet. Near Agematsu, in Shinshu, at 2000 feet altitude, it was collected by Elwes, who saw no tree of any great size or beauty, though the leaves turn red and yellow in autumn. In Yezo, it descends to sea-level on the southern shores of Volcano Bay, where, near the town of Mori, it is common in oak forests, and grows to its largest size. In China, this species grows in the mountains of Hupeh, Eastern Szechwan, and Kiangsi; but is rare, displaying considerable variation in the character of the leaves and fruit.’

It has not yet, apparently, been introduced into cultivation. Plants at Kew, sent under the name of C. laxiflora, from the Arnold Arboretum in 1895, are C. japonica.

A bushy tree, attaining, in America, rarely 40 feet in height and 6 feet in girth, with stem and bark like the common hornbeam. Young branchlets with a few scattered long hairs, the minute glandular pubescence often seen in C. Betulus never being present. Leaves (Plate 201, Fig. 6) as in the common hornbeam, but usually with fewer nerves, nine to ten pairs; and unequal, rounded, or slightly cuneate at the base. Stipules lanceolate, ⅓ inch long, caducous. Fruits: strobiles, 2 to 3 inches long; bracts loosely imbricated, triangular-ovate, ¾ to 1 inch long, with two short unequal lateral lobes, and a much longer middle lobe, which is usually serrate on only one margin ; pedicels of each pair of bracts united only at the base.

In the absence of fruit, this species is difficult to distinguish from C. Beculus from which Koehne could not distinguish it even as a variety. In autumn, the beautiful red tint of the foliage of the American species is diagnostic. The best mark of distinction lies, however, in the buds, which are small, ovoid, acute, ⅛ inch long, with glabrous ciliate scales; those of C. Betulus being large, fusiform, ¼ to ⅓ inch long, with pubescent ciliate scales.

This species, which is known in America as the blue beech or water beech, is found along the borders of streams and swamps, from Southern and Western Quebec

1 Three varieties are distinguished by Burkill, loc. cit. Rh