far as he saw, always mixed with other trees, though Goto says[1] that it occurs in Honshu and in the southern half of Hokkaido in almost unmixed woods, and that in Aomori, Iwate, Echigo, and Yamagata, pure woods of vast dimensions are seen in the mountains above 1000 feet elevation. It is one of the most important trees for firewood and charcoal, but little valued for building. It grows well in shade, and continues to grow to a great age, sometimes attaining enormous size. The Ainos in old Japan are said to have used the tree for dug-out canoes. The largest trees measured by Elwes were in the Government forest of Atera, in the district of Kisogawa, where there were tall straight trees in mixed deciduous forests of beech, magnolia, oak, birch, and maple, about 100 feet high and 9–10 feet in girth. Here the wood was not of sufficient value to pay the expense of carriage.
Fagus sinensis.
- Fagus sinensis, Oliver, in Hook. Icon. Plant. t. 1936 (1891); Diels, Flora von Central China, 284 (1901).
- Fagus sylvatica, L., var. longipes, Oliver, in scheda ad Hook. Icon. Plant. t. 1936 (1891); Franchet, Jour. de Bot. 1899, p. 90.
- Fagus longipetiolata, v. Seemen, in Engler, Bot. Jahrb. xxiii. Beibl. 57, p. 56 (1897).
This tree was discovered by Henry in the mountains south of the Yangtse, near Ichang, in Central China. It occurs scattered in deciduous forests at 3000–4000 feet altitude, and sometimes attains a considerable size, one tree being noted as 15 feet in girth. Von Rosthorn subsequently found the same species in the mountains south of Chungking, in Szechuan.
Fagus Engleriana.
- Fagus Engleriana, v. Seemen, in Diels, Flora von Central China, 285, cum figurâ (1901).
- Fagus sylvatica, L., var. longipes, Oliver, "var. bracteolis involucri exterioribus spatulatim dilatatis," Oliver, in scheda ad Hook, Icon. Plant, t. 1936 (1891).
- Fagus sylvatica, L., var. chinensis, Franchet, Jour. de Bot. 1899, p. 201.
This species was also discovered by Henry, but in the mountains north of the Yangtse from Ichang in Central China. Subsequently specimens were sent to Europe by Père Farges from North-East Szechuan, and by von Rosthorn from Southern Szechuan. It is a smaller tree than F. sinensis, and was seen by Henry on wooded cliffs.
Neither of the Chinese beeches form pure woods. A beech of considerable size was seen by Henry in Yunnan, in a mountain wood near Mengtse, at about 5000 feet elevation, and is possibly a distinct species. This rare tree is remarkable in that it extends the southern limit of the northern beeches to as low as 23° N.
- ↑ Forestry of Japan (1904), p. 22.
