306 A HANDBOOK OF CONIFERS 



Native of the forests of S. Yunnan, China, occurring sparingly 

 in ravines near watercourses at elevations of 4,000-5,000 ft. It 

 is also found wild in Formosa. Introduced by Mr. E. H. Wilson, 

 for Messrs. Veitch in 1899. 



The wood is of better quality than that of most of the other 

 species, and is said to be useful for many purposes in China and 

 Formosa. The wood of buried trees is dug up, and is in demand 

 for coffins. 



L. macrolepis is scarcely hardy in Britain, but it may be 

 planted with success in the warmer south and south-west counties 

 of England. 



Libocedrus papuana, F. v. Mueller. 



A Httle-known species represented by a small specimen in 

 the Kew Herbarium. It apparently belongs to the same group 

 as L. macrolejns, the leaves being very similar in size, but less 

 glaucous. 



Native of Papua. 



Libocedrus tetragona, EndUcher. 

 Alerce. 



Liboceclnis eupressoides, Sargent ; Thuya tetragona, Hooker ; Finns 

 cupressoides, Molina. 



A tree sometimes 160 ft. high, but usually less than half that 

 height, with a narrow pyramidal habit and thin bark. Leaves 

 of uniform size, in 4 ranks, giving the shoot a quadrangular 

 outline ; about -r-j in. long, closely pressed at the base, free at the 

 tips. Cones ^| in. long, borne on short shoots ; scales 4, brown, 

 lance-shaped, the lower pair very small, downy on the margins, 

 each with a stiff curved spine on the back. Seeds small, usually 

 1 to each fertile scale, distinctly two-winged, the larger one 

 broad and twice as long as the seed, the other short and narrow. 



L. tetragona resembles Fitzroya patagonica in fohage, but in 

 Fitzroya the leaves taper to the apex, whilst in Libocedrus they 

 are widest above. The cones are quite distinct. 



Native of the western slopes of the Chilean Andes from 

 latitude 35° southwards on the west end of Lake Nahuel-Huapi 

 at 2,000-3,000 ft. altitude ; also common in Patagonia and Tierra 

 del Fuego. It was introduced by William Lobb in 1849, and a 

 specimen of wood collected by him in Patagonia, preserved in 

 the Kew Museums, is marked " used by the CehUota for fencing, 

 being the most durable wood in the country, tree 30-40 ft. high, 

 seldom 1 ft. in diameter." Another section collected by W. 

 Pearce is said to be part of a railway sleeper. In the Andes 

 the tree dehghts in cold, moist, elevated positions. Elwes and 

 Henry record a tree 15 ft. high in 1906, at KUmacurragh, Co. 

 Wicklow. 



