PICEA HONDOENSIS, Hondo Spruce
- Picea hondoensis, Mayr, Monograph der Abietineen der Japanisches Reiches, 51, t. iv. fig. 9 (1890); Shirasawa, Iconographie des Essences Forestières du Japon, text 20, tab. v. figs. 1–22 (1900).
- Picea ajanensis, Hooker, Bot. Mag. t. 6743 (1884), and of most writers.
- Abies ajanensis, Fisch., var. japonica, Maximowicz, Iter secundum (1862).
A tree, attaining 80 feet in height in Hondo, the main island of Japan. Bark dark grey, peeling off in small roundish scales and leaving light-coloured spots on the trunk. Branchlets shining, glabrous, yellow in the first year; but becoming reddish brown in the second year, and retaining the red colour in succeeding years till the scaly bark begins to form. The free portions of the pulvini are directed forwards, and on the upper side of the branchlets are enlarged transversely at their bases and show two channels where they become decurrent on the stem; they are shorter than in Picea ajanensis, and on older branchlets tend to disappear. Buds like those of Picea ajanensis, but opening with greenish leaves. Leaves as in that species, but slightly shorter. Cones, red when young, yellowish when ripe, slightly curved, oblong, tapering to each end, about 2 inches long by ¾ inch thick, erect on terminal younger branchlets; scales membranous, oval, broader proportionately to their length than in P. ajanensis, with denticulate erose margins; bracts minute, concealed, oval lanceolate, denticulate, gradually tapering to an acute apex. Seed with a short wing (less than twice the length of the seed).
The description just given enumerates the characters, chiefly those of the bark, shoot, and cones, on which Mayr relies to distinguish the Hondo spruce from the true Picea ajanensis.
Picea hondoensis, as grown in this country, where it is usually called Picea ajanensis, assumes a broadly pyramidal outline, the main branches being rigid and directed either upwards or horizontally. In sunshine the branchlets turn their tips upwards, exposing to view the pale surface of the leaves. The arrangement of the leaves on lateral branchlets is the one normal in flat-leaved spruces, i.e. the upper side of the branchlet is densely covered with leaves, which have their apices directed forwards, while on the lower side of the branchlet the leaves part into two sets, directed outwards at right angles and leaving the twig bare beneath. All the leaves direct their stomatic pale surfaces away from the light, so that these look towards the ground.
The young cones are bright crimson, and make the tree highly ornamental in spring.
Identification
Picea Alcockiana, in which the leaves are conspicuously white on the dorsal surface, is often confounded in gardens with Picea hondoensis; but these two species are readily distinguished as follows:—
