PINACEiE 227 



FITZROYA, Hooker fil. 



A monotypic genus belonging to the tribe Cupressinece of 

 Pinacece, distinguished by the normal cones being composed 

 of 9 scales in 3 alternating whorls, the lowest whorl small 

 and sterile, the middle whorl larger and sterile, or with a single 

 two-winged seed to each scale, the upper whorl fertile, each scale 

 bearing 2-6 two- or three-winged seeds. 



Fitzroya patagonica, Hooker fil. (Fig. 49.) 



An evergreen tree 80-160 ft. high and 10-16 ft. in girth in 

 Chile, but reduced to a bush at high elevations. Bark reddish, 

 furrowed, peeling off in long strips. Branchlets flexible, slender, 

 pendulous, green when young, becoming reddish with age. Buds 

 ovoid or globose, composed of shortened leaves. Leaves persisting 

 several years, in alternating whorls of 3, their bases flattened 

 and attached to the branchlet, the free part spreading, oblong 

 or lance-shaped, about | in. long with a minute incurved point, 

 upper surface concave with 2 sunken white stomatic bands, 

 lower surface convex with a broad green midrib, on each side of 

 which is a white band of stomata extending from the base to near 

 the apex. Male and female flowers on the same or on different 

 trees, sometimes hermaphrodite. Male flowers solitary in the leaf 

 axils near the points of the shoots, cylindrical with 15-24 stamens 

 in whorls of 3. Female flowers solitary, about \ in. in diameter, 

 on short, stalk-like, leafy shoots. Cones woody, ^\ in. in diameter, 

 ripening the first year, composed of 9 scales in 3 whorls, the 

 lowest minute and sterile, the middle empty or each bearing a 

 two-winged seed, the upper scales the largest and bearing two- 

 or three-winged seeds, the apex of the cone terminating in 

 gland-like, resin- secreting bodies about \ in. long, which exhale 

 a fragrant odour. Cotyledons 2, Hermaphrodite flowers have a 

 larger number of scales. 



Fitzroya is a native of Chile and N. Patagonia from the coast 

 range north of Valdivia to the Cent. Cordillera of the Andes and 

 covering extensive tracts of marshy country. It was introduced 

 into cultivation in 1849 by William Lobb and again by R. Pearce, 

 the Veitchian collector, ten years later. Although quite hardy 

 in Britain, it is more often seen as a shrub than a tree, but speci- 

 mens 30 ft. or more high are occasionaUy met with in the west 

 of England elsewhere.^ 



Wood reddish brown, easily worked on account of its straight 

 grain and much used for shingles, furniture, cooperage, masts, 

 and spars. 



Elwes and Henry ^ state that most of the cultivated trees 



^ A si^ecimen at Stonefield, Argyleshire, was 40 ft. high by 5 ft. 10 ins. in 1923. 

 ^Loc. cit. vi, 1454 (1912) ; Bot. Mag. t. 4616 (1851) ; Clinton -Bakor, Uluai. 

 Conif. iii, 81 (1913). 



