i873-] NOTES ON HARDY CONIFERS. 297 



NOTES OW HARDY COWrPERS. 



CHAM^CYPARIS SPH^ROIDEA (tHE GROUND CYPRESS). 



This fine evergreen tree, the "White Cedar" of the Americans, and 

 the only species of the genus of undoubted hardiness in our climate, 

 is perhaps still best known in collections under its original, and cer- 

 tainly most expressive, name, " Cupressus Thyoides," or Thuja-like 

 Cypress. It is a native of Canada and the United States, where, 

 particularly in the maritime districts, it has a wide distribution, cover- 

 ing vast tracts of low swampy land, and growing with a straight 

 tapering trunk to a height of some 70 or 80 feet. The wood is light, 

 fine-grained, and easily wrought, and is said to resist the influence of 

 the weather better, and to be more durable for outdoor purposes, than 

 any of the other American firs. 



Though introduced into this country so long ago as 1736, and since 

 then freely planted for pleasure-ground decoration, it has rarely, if ever, 

 been found to grow higher than a moderate-sized shrub, and it is only 

 as such that it can be recommended to cultivators. In congenial cir- 

 cumstances, however, it is exceedingly handsome, and forms a neat 

 distinct-looking specimen, very hardy, and by no means fastidious as 

 to soil, provided the subsoil is cool and naturally damp, and stiff rather 

 than gritty and porous. In general appearance it resembles some of 

 the Arborvit^s or Cypresses, or rather a combination of the characters 

 of both, those of the latter being the most prominent. The habit of 

 growth is close, bushy, and sharply conical, the abundant branches, 

 divided into short, twiggy, fan-shaped branchlets, densely covered 

 with short scale-like leaves of a bright glaucous-green hue. 



The following varieties which have occurred from time to time 

 among seedlings are really distinct, and deservedly popular among 

 collectors of fine shrubs : Atrovirens differs only from the species in 

 the colour of the foliage, which, instead of being glaucous, is bright 

 green ; Glauca has a dwarf er and more compact habit, with a more 

 decidedly silvery-glaucous colour, which it retains all over the year ; 

 Variegata has its green branchlets freely intermixed with golden yellow, 

 and is one of the prettiest of variegated Conifers, forming a conspicuous 

 and exceedingly beautiful lawn specimen-plant. 



SAXE-GOTH.EA CONSPICUA (PRINCE ALBERt's YEw). 



This genus, which as yet is only represented by one species, was 

 named in compliment to the late Prince Consort. It is a native of 

 high mountain-ranges in Patagonia, from whence it was first sent to 

 this country in 1846. In its native habitats it forms a broad bushy 

 shrub or small tree, varying in height from 10 to 30 feet, according to 



