HARDY CONIFEROUS TREES 29 



of the tree for general planting in this country 

 years ago does not hold good to-day, and a great 

 change in its culture has in consequence been 

 brought about. In the younger stages of growth, 

 the Araucaria is, no doubt, one of the most distinct 

 of all coniferous trees, but with the advances of 

 age, it usually begins to show signs of decay, the 

 lower branches dying off one by one, when the 

 whole tree presents a very unsightly appearance. 

 The branches are somewhat drooping, with up- 

 turned tips, the ovate lanceolate leaves stiff, 

 leathery, and sharply pointed, each about i inch 

 long, by half that in width, and bright green in 

 colour. Seed-bearing cones spherical, or nearly 

 so, and 7 inches in diameter, while the thickly 

 arranged, bract -like appendages, each i inch 

 long and standing erect, impart to these a curious 

 hedgehog-like appearance. The male cones are 

 cylindrical, fully 3 inches long, by half that in 

 diameter, and usually produced in quantity. They 

 frequently remain wholly or in part intact for 

 several years. The Araucaria is not always 

 dioecious as stated by some writers. At Cudham 

 Hall, in Kent, the property of the Earl of Derby, 

 as also at Downe Court in the same county, I 

 have seen large numbers of both male and female 

 cones produced on the same tree, specimens of 

 which were sent to the late Duke of Argyll, who 

 was sceptical on the matter. 



ATHROTAXIS, Don 

 THE CROWDED-SCALED CYPRESSES 



Flowers monoecious, occasionally dioecious, solitary ; males 

 in terminal spikes. 



