A tree 100, occasionally 130 ft high in Japan; young shoots without down, but corrugated with the wrinkled protuberances on which the leaves are seated, the groove between the leaf-bases being deep; buds resinous. Leaves 1⁄3 to 11⁄8 in. long, about 1⁄16 in. wide; slightly notched at the flattish apex, dark bright green above, with two broad, blue-white stomatic bands beneath. The undermost leaves are the longest, and they spread horizontally; above them each succeeding rank becomes smaller and more erect, leaving at last a very narrow, or scarcely perceptible V-shaped opening along the top. Cones 3 to 4 in. long, 11⁄4 to 11⁄2 in. wide tapered at top and bottom, purple, finally brown; bracts quite enclosed. Bot. Mag., t. 7114.
Native of Japan; introduced about 1870. This is one of the most thriving and handsome of firs, and very hardy. It occasionally bears good crops of its rich purple cones, and is then very beautiful. It is, perhaps, best distinguished by the deeply corrugated branchlets, the grooves in which become deeper the two following years, by the scaly bark of the trunk and the short, notched leaves. A few of the best specimens on record are: Taymouth Castle, Perths., 101 × 101⁄4 ft (1961); Westonbirt, Glos., pl. 1880, 87 × 71⁄4 ft (1966); Yester House, E. Lothian, 88 × 83⁄4 ft (1955); Grayswood Hill, Surrey, pl. 1882, 82 × 81⁄4 and 82 × 71⁄2 ft (1964); Bodnant, Denbigh, 87 × 71⁄2 ft (1966).
