56 THE GARDENER. [Feb. 



the branches more compressed, and produced in greater abundance ; it 

 is one of the prettiest of cone-shaped lawn specimen-plants. Pendula 

 is a curious weeiDing form, somewhat sparingly branched, and is an 

 interesting variety in a collection. Variegata has some of the branchlets 

 tinted with a bright golden variegation, and though more slender than 

 the species, is a desirable lawn-plant. 



Plicata {tliG Plaited-leaved Arborvitce) is found wild on the 

 western shores of North America, particularly at IS'ootka Sound, 

 growing in deep alluvial soils to heights of from 20 to 30 feet. 

 This fine species was introduced into Britain about 1769, and has 

 proved itseK to be a thoroughly hardy and free-growing ornamental 

 shrub, of a compact, conical habit of growth, abundantly furnished 

 "vvith short, stout, horizontal branches, much divided into thick 

 branchlets disposed in regular rows, and these, overlapping each 

 other, give the plant that peculiar appearance which doubtless sug- 

 gested the specific name Plicata, or Plaited. In summer the branchlets 

 are of a light, slightly glaucous green, changing in winter to a rich 

 brownish tint. 



Though one of the commonest of our hardy Coniferous shrubs, it 

 is well worthy of a place of honour among the rarest and most select, 

 and handsome enough for a lawn, or any other site where a distinct 

 symmetrical evergreen of moderate size is desirable. 



It thrives best in a deep, cool, moderately moist soil, and should 

 always be allowed plenty of space to develop its branches on every side. 



The variety Minima is a neat-growing, bushy plant, very useful 

 for planting on and around rockeries in small garden beds, or in ter- 

 race vases ; and as it is quite as hardy as the parent, thrives in very 

 exposed situations. Another well-known form called Wareana, for- 

 merly classed as a distinct species, but now by most authorities re- 

 garded as only a variety of Plicata, has a slightly more robust habit 

 of growth — a distinction, however, that is not always very obvious, 

 and which seems to depend very much upon the soil, or other cir- 

 cumstances under which the plants are grown. 



Gigantea {the Tall Aborvitce). — This species, hitherto known and 

 distributed under the names Menziesii and Lobbii, is now ascertained 

 to be the true Gigantea first described by JS'uttal in his ' Plants of 

 the Rocky Mountains,' the plant erroneously so named being the 

 Libocedrus decurrens, a tree that, even under the most favourable 

 circumstances, in its native woods rarely rises higher than 50 feet, 

 whereas Gigantea grows to heights of from 100 to 150 feet. 



This grand tree is found wild at altitudes of from 4000 to 5000 feet, 

 over immense tracts on the north-west coast of America, and in Cali- 

 fornia, from whence seeds were first sent home by Jefi'rey in 1854. 



