LIBOCEDRUS TETRAGONA AND MACROLEPIS 185 



is attributed a fragrant odour. Our own verdict of 

 it would be that while it has a flavour of fragrance, 

 that flavour is of a very low standard of power. 

 From the Chilensis the Libocedrus Decurrens can be 

 told by the absence of white stomata and glands. 

 The Tetragona and Macrolepis can be told by their 

 octagonal, not flat, branchlets. The Tetragona has 

 often been confused with the Fitzroya Patagonica, 

 and we experience little wonder. While no one unread 

 in tree-lore, and unversed in the ways and reasonings 

 of the deeper-minded botanists, would on sight ever 

 associate a L. Tetragona with a L. Decurrens, they 

 certainly could, without straining a point, easily 

 confuse the Tetragona and Fitzroya, notwithstanding 

 the fact of their difference of fruit and leaf. The 

 leaves of the L. Tetragona are in opposite pairs and 

 stick away out from the adnate base. In the concave 

 or upper side they show thick splotches of white 

 stomata and their apex narrows to a blunt point, 

 while the leaves of Fitzroya Patagonica are in whorls 

 of three and show white stomata on both sides of the 

 leaf. 



The Libocedri rank up generically alongside of the 

 Thuyas and under the wide, outstretched family wing 

 of the Cupressinese. Possessed of many and various 

 vagaries in form and character, they cannot be an 

 easy species to precisely locate in any family-tree 

 sense. We must search Kew's lists, and there seek 

 the information we desire. And this is what we learn 

 of them from those unquestioned sources : That 

 they are of most undoubted Cupressineae persuasion ; 

 they they are to be found in congregation with a 

 sub-tribal sect, entitled Thuyinae, a sect that includes 

 such divergencies as Cypresses, Fitzroyas, Thuyas, 

 and Biotas ; and that there among them, but seated 

 alone, they occupy a pew to themselves in nearest 

 proximity to the latter mentioned. 



