166 DWABF AND SLOW-GEOWING C0NIFEB8 



Arbor vitos emit a strong pungent odour when crushed, or 

 even when held in the hand. 



Beissner enumerates fifty-five varieties of this thuya, 

 and there are others in American hsts which he had not 

 seen. A great many interestuig forms have been raised 

 in the Arnold Arboretum, some of which have already 

 found their way into cultivation in Europe, but not many 

 of the dwarf forms seem to be obtainable in commerce, 

 and some of those we get are obviously not true; for 

 instance, E. H. Wilson, in the American Garden Magazine 

 (September 20, 1920), classes var. " Tom Thumb " as one 

 of the best dwarf forms, but Beissner (ii. 503) makes this 

 a synonym of var. Elwangeriana, which latter form Bean 

 accurately describes as a " tall, lanky, iaelegant shrub." 

 Furthermore many of the forms seem to be either very 

 inadequately described, or else show very little distinct 

 variation from one another, and in such descriptions 

 as exist, there is often no mention of the ultimate size 

 attained by particular forms; it is more than possible, 

 therefore, that among the varieties described there will 

 be some included that may eventually grow too tall, and 

 others may have been omitted in error. 



T. occidentalis, var. minima. 



A slow-growing form ; branches, branchlets, and f oUage 

 thin and stunted. Habit open and irregular, forming 

 eventually an upright, rather narrowly pyramidal bush of 

 ascending branches, few in number, and set rather far 

 apart. My best specimen, an old plant, is about 3 feet 

 high by 18 inches through. The branchlet sprays, which 

 are slightly recurving, are crowded, at the end of the 

 branchlet forming httle tufts about 2 inches by 2 J inches 

 across. The leaves are small and very thin and flat. 



This form is distinguishable from var. plicata pygmcea 

 by the branches being arranged as in the type, and not 

 set edgeways ; its leaves are thinner and flatter, and their 

 glands not nearly so prominent. 



