HARDY CONIFEROUS TREES 71 



DACRYDIUM, Solander 



THE HUON PINE 



Flowers dioecious. 



Fruit erect and fleshy. 



Seed with a hard shell investing the kernel, and partially 

 surrounded by an outer cup-shaped aril. 



Leaves variable, scale-Uke, or needle-shaped. 



These are evergreen trees, with variable foliage. Only 

 one species has been found sufficiently hardy for outdoor 

 culture in this country. 



Dacrydium Franklini, Hooker f. The Huon 

 Pine. South and west shores of Tasmania. — 

 Though usually branded with the title of '' half- 

 hardy," and fought shy of by cultivators in con- 

 sequence, yet this is by no means generally the 

 case, for healthy and well-furnished specimens 

 may be met with in many counties from Edinburgh 

 southwards — specimens that have stood unscathed 

 through the most severe winters we have experi- 

 enced for many years back. As seen in this 

 country, the Huon Pine is usually of pyramidal 

 contour, the branch spread being very restricted 

 when compared with the height. The trunk is 

 erect and straight, the branches shooting off 

 horizontally from the stem, and the crowded 

 branchlets slender, pendulous, cypress - like, and 

 imparting an elegant weeping habit of growth to 

 the tree. The foliage is of a bright grass-green, 

 almost pea-green, the leaves being small, scale- 

 like, and closely packed together. The male cat- 

 kins are solitary at the branch tips, and the fruit 

 is small and fleshy. Soil would not seem to be 

 a very important factor in the cultivation of the 



