ZELKOVA ACUMINATA
- Zelkova acuminata, Planchon, in Compt. Rend. Acad. Paris, xxiv. 1496 (1872), and DC, Prod. xvii. 166 (1873).
- Zelkova Keaki, Maximowicz, Mél. Biol. ix. 21 (1872); Sargent, Garden and Forest, vi. 323, fig. 49 (1893); Shirasawa, Icon. Ess. Forest. Japon, text 65, t. 36, figs. 1-17 (1900); Mayr, Fremdländ. Wald- u. Parkbäume, 525, figs. 247-249 (1906).
- Zelkova serrata, Makino, in Tokyo Bot. Mag. xvii. 13 (1903).
- Zelkova hirta, Schneider, Laubholzkunde, i. 806 (1906).
- Corchorus hirtus, Thunberg, FZ. Jap. 228 (1784).
- Ulmus Keaki, Siebold, Verh. Bat. Gen. xii. 28 (1830).
- Planera acuminata, Lindley, Gard. Chron. 1862, p. 428
- Planera japonica, Miquel, Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugd. iii. 66 (1867).
- Planera Keaki, Koch, Dendrol. ii. 1. 427 (1872).
- Abelicea Keaki, Schneider, Dendrol. Winterstudien, 238 (1903).
- Abelicea hirta, Schneider, Laubholzkunde, i. 226 (1904).
A tree attaining in Japan 120 feet in height and 15 feet or more in girth. Bark smooth, greyish, resembling that of a beech, but on old trees dividing on the surface into irregular rounded scaly plates. Branchlets slender, at first with a scattered slight pubescence, but becoming glabrous in summer. Leaves (Plate 267, Fig. 7), membranous, thinner than those of the Caucasian species, about 3 inches long and 11⁄4 inch broad, ovate, with a long acuminate apex, slightly cordate and unequal at the base; nerves, nine to twelve pairs, each ending in the long, sharp, often recurved tip of a serration; margin ciliate at first, the cilia falling off in summer ; upper surface dark green, with scattered, short, stiff hairs; lower surface light green, at first slightly pubescent, becoming glabrous in summer; petiole 3⁄16 to 1⁄4 inch, glabrescent.
Fruit about 1⁄8 inch broad, sub-globose, oblique, with a concave depression on either side of a transverse ridge on the upper surface, which bears the remains of the styles ; prominently veined, glabrescent.
In winter the twigs are glabrous, and the buds are minute, ovoid, uniformly brown in colour, with glabrous slightly ciliate scales.
Distribution
Zelkova acuminata occurs in China and Korea, as well as in Japan, but appears to be only common in China in the Tsin-Ling mountain in Shensi, where it was collected by Père Giraldi.’ It has also been found? in the province of Chekiang, on the hills near the Taihoo Lake, and on the mountains inland from Ningpo. Carles ?* collected it near Seoul in Korea.
It is much more widely distributed in Japan, occurring throughout Kiushiu, Shikoku, and Honshu, forming forests in mixture with maple, beech, Quercus grosseserrata, and other broad-leaved trees, According to Shirasawa, it is usually of branching habit in the forest, the tallest and stoutest trees being those cultivated
1 Diels, in Engler, Jahrb. xxxvi. No. 5, p. 33 (1905).
2 Hemsley, Journ. Linn. Soc. (Bot.), xxvi. 449 (1894).
