304 A HANDBOOK OF CONIFERS 



America, with a straight trunk tapering from a broad base. 

 Barh |-1 in. thick, cinnamon-red, deeply furrowed. Habit 

 broadly pyramidal, but in cultivated trees the branches are 

 usually short and the outline columnar. Branchlets flattened, 

 divided into small sprays. Leaves dark green, in fours, equal in 

 size, pressed closely to the branchlet except for the short, pointed 

 tip, which is free ; those of the ultimate branchlets about \ in. long, 

 those on the main shoots about \ in. long, the lateral pair boat- 

 shaped and overlapping the facial pair. Cones solitary, cylind- 

 rical, pendulous, f-in. long, | in. wide, reddish-brown or yellowish 

 brown when ripe ; scales 6, the lowest pair short, barely \ in. 

 long, triangular, reflexed, the middle pair oblong-lanceolate, 

 fleshy when young, the length and width of the cone, with a 

 minute reflexed point near the apex, concave on the inner side 

 at the base with depressions for the seeds ; the upper pair erect, 

 united into a thick woody partition which is crowned by 3 

 minute processes. Seeds 1-2 to each scale, each with an obhque 

 wing about | m. long, and a rudimentary second wing. 



Var. compacta. 

 Differs from the type in its dwarf and more compact habit. 



Var. glauca. 

 Leaves with a glaucous hue. 



Var. nana. 

 Very dwarf and compact, suitable for the rock-garden. 



Var, variegata. 



Patches of golden leaves occur at irregular intervals about the 

 branches. It is not very effective. 



L. decurrens may usually be distinguished in cultivation by 

 its stiff, columnar habit and dark green fohage. It is sometimes 

 confused with Thuya plicata, but can be recognized by the 

 less pungent odour of the bruised leaves and by the larger, 

 cylindrical cones. 



The incense cedar is found from Oregon along the western 

 slopes of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada ranges to Mount San 

 Pedro Martin in Lower California, mostly at altitudes of 3,000- 

 8,500 ft. 



Wood hght, soft, fragrant, close-grained, durable in contact 

 with the ground, light reddish-brown in colour with yellowish 

 sapwood. The timber is used for general carpentry, indoor 

 finish of houses, fencing, telegraph poles, furniture, laths, and 

 shingles. As boxwood it should not be used for articles that 

 absorb odour. 



L. decurrens has no value as a forest tree in Britain, but its 



