JANUARY. 27 



Figs ripen well in many gardens in the Lothians, as high as from 

 350 to 400 feet, but always on south walls, and protected by branches 

 during winter. They do not ripen as standards anywhere, although 

 with us they grow very well as such, but do not perfect their fruit. 



[We hope to be able to follow up this admirable plan still further, 

 and present our readers with suitably compiled lists for other districts, 

 by other eminent cultivators. Ed.] 



DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF HARDY CONIFERS.— No. XIII. 



XXIII. THUIOPSIS BOREALIS — THE NORTHERN THUIOPSIS. 



We this month give a woodcut of this new Conifer, partly on account 

 of its rarity and beauty, and partly with the hope of eliciting some- 

 thing more of its history than is knowTi at present. We give the name 

 as we find it in catalogues, but are ignorant of the authority for the 

 specific name borealis. Possibly when more is known of it this may 

 give way to some other, and our readers must receive it as entirely 

 provisional. 



The engraving on our next page represents a young tree of Thuiopsis 

 borealis growing in the nursery of Mr. Pontey, of Plymouth, and pro- 

 bably the finest in the country. Mr. Pontey informs us that he purchased 

 this, with others, some time back from the Clapton Nursery, ]\Ir. Low 

 ha\dng been the first to introduce it from the continent. On aj)plying 

 to Mr. Low for information respecting it, he states that he obtained this 

 Thuiopsis from the Messrs. Ohlendorff and Son, of Hamburgh, who 

 reported it as coming from Behring's Straits. It appears further, from 

 the Gardeners Chronicle, p. 727, that it was exhibited in Paris in 

 1852 by IMessrs. Thibaut and Keteleer as a Conifer said to come from 

 mountains in the north of India. To us it appears very unlikely that 

 it should come from Behring's Straits, the shores of which are described 

 by navigators as destitute even of the trees and shrubs usually met with 

 in high latitudes. For the present w^e must, therefore, wait for better 

 evidence before we can name its native locality. 



One species of Thuiopsis, dolabrata, is described by Siebold and 

 Zuccarini as indigenous to the Japan Islands, where it forms a large and 

 very handsome tree, with a thick trunk, and verticillate drooping 

 branches ; young plants of this species are in the JMessrs. Lawsons' 

 collection, who, however, consider its hardiness doubtful. In respect to 

 T. borealis ]\Ir. Pontey considers it perfectly hardy. From a specimen 

 sent us the branches are numerous, with branchlets arranged on 

 each side the branches alternately, and again dividing, thickly clothed 

 with small pointed leaves, imbricate at their base, of a beautiful glaucous 

 green on their upper surface, and pale green below. It is said to grow 

 freely, which, added to its graceful foliage and habit, will make it a most 

 desirable plant to possess, especially if it prove as hardy in other parts of 

 England as in Devonshire. Its great beauty for an ornamental tree 

 will, we hope, ensure its trial in every part of the kingdom. 



Thuiopsis is one of three sections into which modern botanists have 



