CHAP. CXII. 



TAXA^CEJE. 



2101 



P. elongAtus 'L'Heiit, Richaii Co- -^ \ 1007 



nlf., p. 13. 1. 1. f. 2., and om figAWl. ; ^ '^^ ' ' 



T. elongcltus Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 1., 

 3. p. 415., Thun. Prod., 117., Smith 

 in Eees's Cycl., No. 3. ; has the 

 leaves scattered, linear-lanceolate. ' 

 Branches somewhat whorled. Male 

 flowers cylindrical, with spirally im- 

 bricated and very numerous anthers. 

 These scale-like anthers of the male 

 flower are very like those of a fir. A 

 native of the Cape of Good Hope, 

 sent to Kew in 1774. There are 

 plants at Messrs. Loddiges's. 



P. chiltnus Rich. Mem. Conif., 

 p. 11. t. 1. f. 1., and our Jig. 1996., is a 

 middle-sized tree, a native of Chili, 

 where it is called Manigui, and 

 whence specimens of the male plant 

 were^sent.to Europe, by the collector 

 Dorabey. 



P. coriuceus Rich. Conif., 1. 1. £ 3., and our^^. 1998., is a native of 

 the Island of Montserrat, and resembles P. elonga.tus, but is smaller 

 in all its parts. 



P. taxifulius Kunth in Humb. and Bonp. 

 Nov. Gen., 2. p. 2. 1 97. ; Rich. Mem. Conif., 

 pi. 29. f. 1., and oxxr figs. 1999, and 2000. ; P. 

 montJknus Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836 ; Taxus mon- 

 tana VVilld. Sp. PL, 4. p. 857. This is a tree 

 with the habit of Taxus baccita, a native of 

 Peru, and of which only the female plant has 

 hitherto been sent to Europe. Some curious 

 information respecting the anatomy of its fruit will be found in Richard's 

 M^nioire, p. 15. There are plants at Messrs. Loddiges's. 



Otho Species At Messrs Loddiges's, there are Podocarpus excelsus, 

 and P. »eriif 61ius ; and also Taxus 

 japonica : but whether they, and also 

 several of the names above given, are 

 applied to plants sufficiently distinct, , 

 or whether they are synonymes, we 

 have no means of ascertainini?. In 

 Lambert's Pinus, 2d ed., vol. ii., 

 several species are mentioned, or 

 shortly described, as natives of Chili 

 and New Holland, affording an ex- 

 ample of coincidence in'tlie vegetation 

 of these countries, with that of the 

 south of Africa. 



Dacrydium Solander. Sexes dicBcious. Flowers minute. 

 — Male. Catkin solitary, terminal, ^oblong. Flowers imbri- 

 cated, each consisting of a scale and two cases of pollen attach- 

 ed to its lower part on the outside. — Female. Flowers ter. 

 minal, solitary ; each borne upon the surface of the last leaf 

 of a" shoot, and part of it embraced by that leaf, and by contiguous ones ; and oo(jo 



included within acupule-like or calyx-like involucre, which has a terminal 

 orifice, that widens more and more ; and the involucre eventually becomes a 

 cupule-like body, of a firm fleshy consistence, and situated at the lower part of 

 the fruit. Calyx globosely turbinate, but contracted towards the tip, and then 

 expanded into glandular, narrow, and spreading limbs. Pistil almost wholly 

 free, included. Fruit rather egg-shaped, tipped with a small point. Two spe- 

 cies have been described, and are introduced. 



D. cupr^ssinum Sol. in Forst. PI. Es., p. 80., Prod., p. 92., Lam. Pin., p. 93. 

 t. 41. ed. 2., ii. t. 69., Rich. Mem. Conif, p. 127. t. 2., and our Jig. 2001. ; ThalS- 

 mia cupr^ssina Spreng. This is a tall evergreen tree, with pendent branches, 

 and the small shoots covered with numerous dichotomous (2-rowed) scaly-looking 

 leaves, not imlike, at a distance, those of Lycopudium. The male catkins are sessile, oblong-ovate, im- 

 bricate, with many flowers. The female flower, which is shown mfig. 2001. a, is produced at the sum- 

 rait of the leaf, and is included in an involucrum, which forms a sort of cup, and conceals the pistillum 

 from the view. It is a native of New Zealand, where it was discovered by Dr. Solander, during Cook's 

 first voyage. In Cook's second voyage, he made the shores of New Zealand, at a place which he 

 had previously named Dusky Bay, in March, 1773. " The country at the back of this bay is described 

 as exceedingly mountainous, the hills forming part of that great chain which extends throughout 

 the larger island from Cook's Straits. These hills are said to wear an aspect, than which a more 

 rude and craggy feature can rarely be seen ; for the mountain summits are of stupendous height, 

 and consist of rock, totally barren and naked, except where they are covered with snow. Skirting 

 the sea shore, the land and all the islands in the bay are densely clothed with wood, nearly down to 

 the water's edge. Except in the river Thames (a river of New Zealand), Captain Cook adds, " I have 

 not seen finer timber in all New Zealand. The most considerable for size is the spruce tree (Dacrydium 

 cupressinum Sol., many individuals of which were observed from 6 ft. to 8 ft. or 10 ft. in girt, and from 

 60 ft. or 80 ft. to even 100 ft. high, quite large enough to make a main mast for a fifty-four gun ship." 

 Of the leaves of this tree Cook made beer, which he gave to his ship's company ; and which, when 

 well prepared, and corrected from its extreme astringency by a decoction of philadelphus, or tea plant 

 (Leptospermum scop^rium), proved a good antiscorbutic, and was acknowledged to be little inferior 

 to the American spruce beer, by those who had experience of both. (Cornp. to the Bat. Mag., vol. ii. 

 p. 228.) Mr. George Bennett, in his Observations on the Conifercs of New Zcrt/amrf, published in 

 Lambert's Pinus, says that he has seen the Dacrydium cupressinum growing to the height of 80 ft. 

 or 90 ft., but with a trunk seldom exceeding in circumfcrence.15 ft. The timber is considered 



6 u 4- 



1999 



