Hornbeam and several species of Maple. Shirasawa was anxious to see if the variety of Camphor tree, which grows here and produces only oil which will not crystallise, was a distinct species or not; but he could not discover any botanical difference, and it may be rather a question of climate. On the very tall and fine alder trees were great tufts of mistletoe growing just as it docs on poplars, but never, I think, on alders in England, but I could not identify the species.
On the way home I measured, with the forester’s help, the tallest Cypresses that I could find, as follows:
1. C. formosensis, close to the line of railway, 170 feet by 30 feet.
2. The tree which the Japanese call the “Shogun" Cypress on the lower side of the line, hollow, and now I believe destroyed, 163 feet by 40 feet.
3. The largest tree of all, very near the last and protected by a wire fence, 162 feet by 60 feet. This tree seems sound, and, if the rings on those felled trees which we counted are any sure guide, must be well over 1,000 years old.
On one, a newly felled stump, I counted the rings carefully, and found on a total diameter of 8 feet 8 inches in the first foot of radius from the centre, which was partly decayed, about 110 to 150 rings, on the second foot 85, on the third 112, on the fourth 121, on the fifth (only 8 inches) 84, making the age of the tree at least 500 years. On another tree which was carefully measured and counted by Mr, Uyematsu, the local forester, he found, on a section which measured 10 feet 8 inches in diameter, 968 rings. It therefore seems probable that these Cypresses may attain a greater age than any in the world except the Sequoia gigantea of California. In both of these trees there was only about an inch of sap wood, and the bark was only from a quarter to a half-inch thick, The soil on which these grand trees grow is partly yellow sandstone and partly a clayey slate, very deep and fertile. I could find no hard underlying rock near the surface , and except in openings where the soil was exposed t I could find no seedlings coming up, just as was the case in the Gryptomeria forest of North Japan, But seed which was sent home has germinated freely and, rather to my surprise, the seedlings have proved hardy enough to endure the winter in Gloucestershire, At this season the day tempera¬ ture at Arisan was about 50°, very pleasant and soft, and I imagine that the rainfall is heavy, though no record could then be procured.
On February 16th Price returned from Goodfellow’s camp and we descended to Funkiko, about six hours distant, but did not find any¬ thing particular which we had missed on the way up. Here we slept well, and as there were some unfinished tunnels rather bad to pass through, we took a short cut by another path, leading down to an old Chinese village in a valley about 3,000 feet with very tropical vegetation. Here we discovered a new species of Tricyrtis in flower, of which seeds were taken; this plant has done well in my greenhouse at home, and has been figured in the Botanical Magazine as T. stolonifera. In this valley was a beautiful Prunus in full flower without leaves, a bushy tree 10 to 15 feet high.
