ILLUSTRATIONS (23). ACICULAR-LEAVED TREES. 323 



the Norfolk Islands and New Caledonia, then those Coni- 

 ferae are the highest, whose habitat is the temperate zone 

 of the North. As we have found among the family of the 

 palms the most gigantic of all, the Ceroxylon andicola, about 

 192 feet high, in the temperate Alpine climate of the Andes, 

 so in like manner do the loftiest cone-bearing trees belong, 

 in the northern hemisphere, to the temperate north-western 

 coast of America and to the Ilocky Mountains (lat. from 

 40° to 52°), in the southern hemisphere to New Zealand, 

 Tasmania or Van Dieman's Land, to Southern Chili and 

 Patagonia, (where the lat. is again from 43° to 50°). The 

 most gigantic forms among the genus Pinus are Sequoia 

 (EndL), Araucaria, and Dacrydium. I only name those 

 species whose height not merely reaches but often exceeds 

 200 feet. That the reader may have a standard of com- 

 parison, he is reminded that in Europe the loftiest Red and 

 White Pines, especially the latter, reach a height of from 

 160 to 170 feet; for instance, in Silesia, the pine in the 

 Lampersdorf forest, near Frankenstein, long famous for its 

 altitude, is only 158 feet high, although 17 feet in girth.* 



We give the following examples : — 



Pinus Grandis (Dough), in New California, attains a height 

 of 202—224 feet. 



Pinus Fremontiana (EndL), also there, and probably of the 

 same height. f 



Dacrydium Cupressinum (Solander), in New Zealand, above 

 213 feet. 



Pinus Lambertiana (Dough), in North-western America, 

 223—234 feet. 



Araucaria Excelsa (R. Brown), the Cupressus columnaris of 

 Forster, in Norfolk Island and the surrounding rocks, 182 — 

 223 feet. The six Araucarise hitherto known fall into two 

 groups, according to Endlicher: 



a. The American (Brazil and Chili), A. brasiliensis [Rich.], 

 between 15° and 25° south lat., and A. imbricata [Pavonj, 

 between 35° and 50° south lat.; the latter 234 — 260 feet; 



/3. The Australian (A. Bidwilli [Hook.] and A. Cunning- 

 hami [Ait.] on the eastern side of New Holland, A. excelsa 



* See Ratzeburg, Forstreisen, 1844, s. 287. 

 . f Torrey and Fremont, Report of the Exploring Expedition to the 

 Rocky Mountains in 1844, p. 319. 



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