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young volcanoes. The soil is coarsely granular, rather lean, and well drained; trees have a strong regenerative power and often appear in stands. Cherries such as the Japanese mountain cherry (Prunus serrulata var. spontanea) and the Oshima cherry (P. serrulata var. speciosa), both frequently seen as parent to classic garden forms, find their natural home on the lower mountainous foothills. Their sites in the wild are always open and airy with much sunshine and fresh air. The Japanese mountain cherry also can be found on the mountainous slopes and close to the ridges or even on top of them among species such as Japanese red pine (Pinus densiflora), southern Japanese hemlock (Tsuga sieboldii), and rarely even Japanese umbrella pine (Sciadopitys verticillata). The Japanese mountain cherry (Prunus serrulata var. spontanea) tolerates drier soils that can be of a firm and sticky consistency, whereas the Edo-higan cherry (P. pendula f. ascendens) and the Oshima cherry (P. serrulata var. speciosa) are happier in a looser soil near fresh, running water. Subterranean water never seems to be very far away for these two, which are found only on the lower slopes. If they can compete with the natural vegetation, they are also found in the plains, but then usually helped by human intervention. Farther down the slope where fallen leaves and dead branches accumulate, the soil is loose in structure, well aerated, often rich in leaf-mold, relatively poor in minerals, and slightly acidic. This soil is preferred by most garden cherries as their farreaching roots can easily penetrate it. More will be said about light, moisture, and air requirements in chapter 2. Wild Flowering Cherries of Japan Flowering cherries are grouped under the genus Prunus. The seven Japanese species are introduced below in their systematic context. The systematics presented in this volume are based on (but do not follow the nomenclature of) Ohwi (1965) and Kawasaki (1994). Ohwi elevated the three varieties of Prunus serrulata to specific status and presented the garden form 'Takasago' as the species Prunus sieboldii (Carrière) Wittmack. I follow Kawasaki's grouping of flower cherries, except for his separating of P. apetala from the alpine cherries and his treatment of P. maximowiczii as a flowering cherry. An understanding of the way in which the wild flowering cherries are