and which will prohabl^ rank among the most highly valued of our hardy evergreen trees, is a native of the mountains 
.^ — ^ _.. _ _ . 
forming 
In the nursery 
of Messrs. Veitch, of Exeter, it has lived in the open air for four years without shelter, and has ail the appearance of 
being well adapted to the climate of England. The country in which it grows is, indeed, more cold and stormy than any 
part of Great Britain, as is shown by the following account of it, given by Mr, Lobb in one of his letters to 
Messrs. Veitch : — 
** During my absence I visited a great part of Chiloe, most of the islands in the Archipelago, and the coast of 
Patagonia for about 140 miles. I went up the Corcobado, Caylin, Alman, Comau, Reloncavi, and other places on the 
coast, frequently making excursions from the level of the sea to the line of perpetual snow. These bays generally run to 
the base of the central ridge of the Andes, and the rivers take then: rise much further back in the interior. The whole 
country, from the Andes to the sea, is formed of a succession of ridges of mountains gradually rising from the sea to the 
central ridge. The whole is thickly wooded from the base to the snow line. Ascending the Andes of Comau, I observed 
from the water to a considerable elevation the forest is composed of a variety of ^trees, and a sort of cane so thickly 
matted together that it formed almost an impenetrable jungle. Further up, amongst the melting snows, vegetation 
becomes so much stunted in growth, that tlie trees, seen below 100 feet high and 8 feet in diameter, only attain the 
height of 6 inches. 
" On reaching the summit no vegetation exists — nothing but scattered barren rocks which appear to rise amongst the 
snow, which is 30 feet in depth, and frozen so hard that on walking over it the foot makes but a slight impression. 
«To the east, as far as the eye can command, it appears perfectly level. To the south, one sees the central ridge of 
the Andes stretching along for an immense distance, and covered with perpetual snow. To the west, the whole of the 
islands, from Guaytecas to the extent of the Archipelago, is evenly and distinctly to be seen. 
« A little below this elevation the scenery is also singular and grand. Rocky precipices stand hke perpendicular 
walls from 200 feet to 300 feet in height, over which roll the waters from the melting snows, which appear to the eye like 
lines of silver. Sometimes these waters rush down with such force, that rocks of many tons in weight are precipitated 
from their lofty stations to the depth of 2000 feet In the forest below everything appears calm and tranquil ; 
scarcely the sound of an animal is heard ; sometimes a few butterflies and beetles meet the eye, but not a house or 
human being is seen. On the sandy tracts near the rivers, the lion or puma is frequently to be met with ; but this 
animal is perfectly harmless if not attacked." 
It is from this wild and uninhabited country that many of the fine plants raised by Messrs, Veitch were obtained, 
and among them the ^o^e-ffo^Scea, Podocarptts nuUgena, Fitz-Roya patagonica, and Libocedrus tetragona, 
writes thus : — 
The former inhabi 
Of these he 
« The two last (Fitz-Roya and LibocedrusJ I never saw below the snow line, 
precipices, and the latter the swampy places between the mountains. The first grows to an enormous size, particularly 
about the wmter snow hue, where I have seen trees upwards of 100 feet high, and more than 8 feet in diameter It may 
be traced from this elevation to the perpetual snows, where it is not more than 4 inches in height. With these grow the 
Yews (Saxe^Gothwa and Podocarpus nuUgena), which are beautiful evergreen trees, and, as well as the others afford 
excellent timber." ' 
Saxe-Goth£ea may be described as a genus with the male flowers of a Podocarp, the females of a Dammar, the fruit of a 
Jumper, the seed of a Dacrydium, and the habit of a Yew. Its fleshy fruit, composed of consolidated scales, enclosing 
nut-hke seed, and formmg what is technically called a Galbulus, places it near Juniperus, from which it more especially 
differs m its anthers not being peltate, nor its fruit composed of a single whorl of perfect scales, and in its ovule having 
two integuments instead of one. In the last respect it approaches Podocarpus, and especially Dacrydium • but the 
exterior integument of the seed is a ragged abortive membrane, enveloping the base only of^he seed, infteldo; a teu! 
^IclZ. lo^vTZ Z '1 7 P°''t''''"' ''^ ^^ ^*"''™ "°'''^^^' ^ ^"'^ ""« distinguished botanist comparing 
Saxe-Got h^ea to a Podocarp with the flowers in a cone-a view which he was probably led to take by the condition of the 
ovule and which may be regarded as the most philosophical mode of understanding tl^ nature of th s sin^lar genu^ to 
^1 f^CZ. ; ':f^lfi^^-^^ -' ^^^}^ not distinguishablfby habit from a Podotrp.^ ' " 
t:r^^1r.^f:^r.!nf::^T r--- ^-*. ^--'^ ^™^ - - ^^es a direct transition Zm the 
true imbricated 
t rather confirm 
one- 
ty ot limitmg tlie Coniferous order to those genera which really 
iguage of some naturalists, Saxe-Gothaea would he oa\UA m 
bear cones instead of single naked seeds. In the la 
osculant genus between Taxads and Conifers. 
ThJmale'flowr co^tlt o ^^i^^^^^^^^^^^^ and two narrow stripes within the edges, which are pale green, 
spikes (fig. 1) grow from with nlf? ^ , branches, m a raceme more or less elongated. These 
Sitary membSn^l anth r with a CT." "•'"' "^'t '"'■" " ''°' '' '""''^^'^^^ '' *^ ^^^- ^^ ^^^'^ « » 
, y anous anther, with a lanceolate. acn™.n».„ .„fl...^ „..„„. _ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^.^^ 
caly imbricated cone. The 
»lid cen tre. All appear to be 
3>Tile (fig. 3). The ovule is 
fertile, and to' bear in a niZ • *v. "^^T f * *''^"' ^'^'' ^'^"'"^ ^^'^ ^°^^ '°'« * ' 
, wia lo t^ear m a niche m the middle, where the contraction is. a single inverted 
- ^-T ■■ .- 1 
I 
