BETULA MAXIMOWICZII
- Betula Maximowiczii,) Regel, in Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc. xxxviii. 418 (1865); Winkler, Betulaceæ, 89 (1904).
- Betula Maximowicziana, Regel, in DC. Prod. xvi. 2, p. 180 (1868); Shirasawa, Icon. Ess. Forest. Japon, text 45, t. 23, ff. 1–8 (1900) ; Mayr, Fremdländ. Wald- u. Parkbäume, 449 (1906).
A tree, attaining in Japan, according to Mayr, 100 feet in height. Bark grey, smooth, peeling off in thin, papery strips. Young branchlets, with scattered glands ; glabrous, except for slight pubescence above the insertions of the leaves. Leaves (Plate 269, Fig. 6) about 6 inches long and 4 inches wide, broadly ovate, deeply and narrowly cordate at the base, acuminate at the apex; margin non-ciliate, bi- serrate ; nerves, ten to twelve pairs, each ending in a long-pointed serration ; upper surface at first pubescent with erect hairs, later glabrescent ; lower surface with scattered pubescence throughout, or glabrous, except for pubescence on the midrib and nerves, gland-dotted; petiole an inch or more in length, pubescent or glabrous.
Fruiting catkins (Plate 269, Fig. 6), two to four in a raceme, about 2½ inches long, and nearly ½ inch in diameter; scales glabrous, shortly three-lobed, the lateral lobes spreading and shorter than the middle lobe; nutlets very small, with broad wings.
A variety of the species is in cultivation in Kew Gardens, distinguished by having smaller leaves, with more shortly pointed serrations, and with their under surface (as well as the young branchlets and petioles) covered with long, soft pubescence.
This species is readily distinguished by its large leaves, deeply and narrowly cordate at the base. In winter the twigs are stout, shining, yellowish, nearly glabrous ; buds about ⅜ inch long, appressed to the branchlet, curved laterally and ending in a sharp beak, with glabrous scales.
B. Maximowiczii occurs in Japan, in the central chain of Hondo, but is more common in Yezo,’ where, according to Sargent,’ it is a shapely tree, 80 or go feet in height, with a trunk 2 or 3 feet in diameter, covered with pale, smooth, orange- coloured bark. Towards the base of old trees the bark becomes thick and ashy- grey, separating into long, narrow scales.
The largest that Elwes saw in Japan were growing in a mixed forest of maple, poplar, ash, spruce, and silver fir, on volcanic soil, at about 3000 feet elevation, near the Crater Lake, Shikotsu, in Yezo; and one measured 90 feet high by 9 feet 9 inches in girth, The Japanese name‘ of this species is Udat-kamba.
1 This species, with B. luminifera, Winkler, B. Bœumkeri, Winkler, both natives of central China, and B. alnoides, Buchanan-Hamilton, distributed throughout the Himalayas and in central and southern China, constitute the section Betulaster, distinguished by elongated fruiting catkins and broad-winged nutlets.
2 Mayr, op. cit., plate 31, gives a picture of this tree growing in a forest in Yezo.
3 Forest Flora of Japan, 62 (1894).
4 According to Matsumura, in Shokubutsu Mei-I, 48 (1895). The same name is given in Goto’s Forestry of Japan.
