Westonbirt Arboretum’s Director, Simon Toomer, and Superintendent, Mark Ballard, are currently in Japan for two weeks to collect seed from the wild. The trip will help to develop Westonbirt’s tree collection with more diverse species of maples and other trees from this temperate climate. The team wish to thank the private donor with a passion for plants and science who has funded this trip.

Chichibu University Forests – Day 9 & 10

We meet another old friend at 8.00am on Thursday in our hotel lobby, Dr Takashi Masaki of the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute in Tsukuba. It was just like old times and great to catch-up, as we had spent many days collecting seed together back in 2008.

The road to Chichibu

We wasted no time in heading for our next destination, the Chichibu University forests, some three hours drive to the west. Takashi had arranged for us to meet university officials at the forest office in Chichibu City, and they gave us a brief presentation about the area and native flora. He had also sent them a copy of target species list, so they already had the best places for us to go in mind. After a tempura and noodle lunch, we headed for the mountains in two vehicles, accompanied by a local member of staff to guide us.

Chichibu Forest Office

No sooner had we reached our first stop, and we bagged Acer crataegifolium (Hawthorn Maple) in a sunny location next to a path. We then moved higher to a forest road next to a beautiful river, with clear pools of aquamarine water that looked very inviting on a hot day. We are getting to visit some spectacular places that most people will never get the chance to see.

Lots of other target species were collected during a really productive afternoon. Into the bag went: Meliosma myriantha; Mallotus japonicus; Styrax obassia; Stachyurus praecox; Euonymus oxyphyllus (Korean Spindleberry) which has fantastic autumn colour; and Zanthoxylum piperitum (Japanese Pepper Tree) which has edible fruit and medicinal uses. We collected seed from a dozen plants in total, and headed for our hotel, also booked by Takashi.

Us at work

The next day we set-off for a different part of the Chichibu forest, which was yet higher still and equally scenic. We made ten collections, including Acer capillipes (a snake bark maple) and Acer japonicum (Full Moon Maple). But what we will all remember most, is Takashi shaking the branches of a large walnut tree (Juglans mandschurica) with his huge telescopic pole, and lots of nuts falling from sky like giant hailstones. At that point we understood why we had each been issued with a hard hat the day before.

Dr Takashi Masaki

At around 5.00pm we said goodbye and thank you to our kind hosts, who had been incredibly helpful and had issued us with the essential plant permits. They were actually very honoured that we had travelled so far to collect seed from their native trees and shrubs. We headed back to our base in Tsukuba, driven the many miles, of course, by Takashi. We arrive there late, and straight away get stuck into the important tasks of seed cleaning and recording field data.

A couple of days rest now, until the final part of our adventure in the University Forests of Chiba to the south, with Takashi once again.

Westonbirt Arboretum’s Director, Simon Toomer, and Superintendent, Mark Ballard, are currently in Japan for two weeks to collect seed from the wild. The trip will help to develop Westonbirt’s tree collection with more diverse species of maples and other trees from this temperate climate. The team wish to thank the private donor with a passion for plants and science who has funded this trip.

Sunday 9^th October

It’s Sunday morning and we’re having a quiet day staying in a high rise hotel in the city of Tsukuba, an hour’s train ride north of Tokyo. The brief respite in collecting gives us an opportunity to open and repack all the seed gathered so far and update the plant records. It’s also a chance to catch up on sleep and consider the trip so far.

Bags of seed in hotel

The two days spent on the forested slopes of Mount Fuji produced some valuable plants that we missed on our last trip. Once again we were helped by staff and students from the University of Shizuoka including PhD researcher Mizuki Fukushima who drove us along the winding forest tracks far removed from the usual tourist bus routes up Fuji. There were also memorable views of the mountain as we approached from the industrial sprawl to the south.

Approach to Fuji

One notable tree that we hoped to collect was Torreya nucifera, known to the Japanese as kaya. This relative of the yew can be quite illusive beneath the more conspicuous giant beeches, firs and oaks and, although we found a number of trees, we couldn’t spot any green plum-like fruits among the evergreen foliage even with the aid of binoculars. But then with time running out and our hopes diminishing, we located two fruiting plants and, with the help of long-handled pruners, managed to collect a reasonable number of kaya ‘nuts’.

Mizuki collecting kaya

Kaya

We also collected other valuable plants including two maples: horned maple (Acer diabolicum) and Nikko maple (Acer maximowiczianum). The latter was a real surprise as we had not expected to see it here and had a stroke of luck when Mark spotted a large old tree with a recently shed large limb (probably during the recent typhoon) laden with ripe fruit – the prize delivered on a plate!

The forests around Fuji are designated as National Forest Parks and we were very fortunate to be given special permission to collect seed by the equivalent of the UK’s Forestry Commission. We dropped in at the local forestry office where we met the local forestry chief, Mr Sakamoto, who told us about the forests and their management.

Westonbirt Arboretum’s Director, Simon Toomer, and Superintendent, Mark Ballard, are currently in Japan for two weeks to collect seed from the wild. The trip will help to develop Westonbirt’s tree collection with more diverse species of maples and other trees from this temperate climate. The team wish to thank the private donor with a passion for plants and science who has funded this trip.

Monday 3 October 2011

Its late in the evening and the first chance we’ve had to send an update for a while, as we’ve just spent two very busy and very successful days deep in the Naka-kawane Forest.

View of Naka-kawane mountains

We were picked-up early on Sunday morning at our hotel in Shizuoka by Professor Hiro Mizunaga, and were accompanied on our journey westward by five Indonesian forestry students. They were also guests of Shizuoka University, looking at Japanese silvicultural practices and forest management issues at the same location.

Indonesian, Japanese and British group photo

Once at the Naka-kawane Forest we met-up with Mizuki Fujishima, a research student, and Taichi Kajikawa, a local forest guide.  Both helped us on our last trip back in 2008, and it was good to see them again.  We wasted no time in setting-off in a 4×4 vehicle up the mountain, along a very steep road with an almost vertical drop to one side.  We passed through plantations of ‘Sugi’ (Cryptomeria japonica) and ‘Hinoki’ (Chamaecyparis obtusa), and each wondered how these montane forest trees would be harvested in future.

At an appropriate spot amid dense native woodland we then carried on on foot, on the look-out for target species with good seed. Our guides proved invaluable, and it doesn’t take us long before we are spotting the trees we have travelled so far to see. First up was Acer micranthum, one of the snake bark maples, other species of maple, or ‘Kaede’ in Japanese, quickly followed. Acer diabolicum, known as the Devil Maple because of horns on the seed, Acer carpinifolium, Acer sieboldianum and Acer palmatum subspecies amoenum are all in the bag. We also collect seed from lots of other interesting tree species: Styrax japonica (Japanese Snowbell), Stewartia monodelpha; Kalopanax pictus (Castor Aralia) and Carpinus Tschonoskii (Hornbeam) to name but a few.

We continue to climb steadily higher until we can go no further; the recent typhoon has caused a landslide taking with it a huge chunk of road. No worry though, as we see things on the way back down that weren’t obvious at first glance. The views out over the tree covered mountain range are breathtaking, and we each feel very fortunate to be here. Lots of photographs are taken and Simon continues to film proceedings with a small hand-held camera.

The end of the road

The day ends at the mountain lodge, where we each give power-point presentation to the group of Indonesian students and Japanese university staff. There are plenty of questions as everyone is very interested in the arboretum and the work that we do. Simon, Ted and I settle down to sleep in a shared room, after a few hours cleaning seed and recording the all important field data.

Tuesday 4 October 2011

After a quick ‘fusion style’ breakfast, we are all back up the mountain, although we take a different route today and leave the vehicle much sooner than the day before. We climb an incredibly steep path from 1,000m to 1,600m above sea level, stopping to collect seed on route once again. We are led by the sound of a bell used to ward off bears, which is worn by Taichi, who we previously named the ‘mountain goat’ due his ability to easily skip across the toughest of slopes.

The mountain goat

Before the day is over, we had made more seed collections and now have 25 in total. Lots of useful discussions take place between the group members concerning identification of key plants, which is always a valuable part of these trips.  We manage to bag Quercus mongolica (Mongolian Oak), Picea jezoensis (Yezo Spruce), Picea polita (Tiger Tail Spruce), Tilia japonica (Japanese Lime) and Rhododendron pentaphyllum.

We did not have time to grab any lunch today, but instead lap-up the view and stunning scenery once again, before making the tricky decent. Once back at the lodge, we show our appreciation for the help we have received with gifts of Westonbirt calendars and Wakehurst Place notebooks. Then we begin the long drive back to Shizuoka, feeling tired but very happy with our expedition so far. We arrive back after 7.00pm, grab a quick dinner of rice and noodles, before taking care of the seed and records as always. It’s late to bed after that, but we’re really looking forward to an exciting couple of days ahead on Mount Fuji from tomorrow morning.