500 A HANDBOOK OF CONIFERS 



tors, and other purposes where a soft, non-shrinking wood is re- 

 quired, it will be found suitable. Lumbermen recognize three kinds 

 of timber — black, red, and white cypress. Black wood is most 

 durable. Deciduous cypress wood is obtainable in large quan- 

 tities from ports on the Gulf of Mexico. A resin obtained from 

 the cones is said to be used as a healing application to woimds. 

 T. distichum thrives in moist, loamy soil throughout the 

 midland and southern counties of England and Ireland. Trees 

 over 100 ft. high are known to exist in several gardens, notably 

 at Syon House, Brentford, where, in a low-lying position on the 

 bank of a lake the knee-lilve growths from the roots (peculiar to 

 the species) are very prominent. At Kew a tree has been growing 

 in a pond for many years. The deciduous cypress should be 

 propagated by seeds, which, if not quite fresh, should be soaked 

 in warm water before sowing. Young plants are rather tender, 

 and it is wise to protect them from frost for one or two years, 

 otherwise the points of the branches may be killed. Although 

 only grown as an ornamental tree in Britain it is probable that 

 it would prove successful as a forest tree in the south and west 

 of England, particularly in marshy ground. 



TETRACLINIS, Masters. 



A monotypic genus allied to Callitris and Widdringtonia, 

 differing from both by the flattened Thuya-like divisions of the 

 branchlets and by the four-ranked leaves. From Callitris it also 

 differs by the cones being composed of 4 instead of 6 or 8 scales. 



Tetraclinis articulata, Masters. 

 Alerce. 



Callitris quadrivalvis, Richard ; Frenela Fontanesii, Mirbel ; Thuya 

 articulata, Vahl. Thuya ; Cedar. 



An evergreen tree of pyramidal habit, 40-50 ft. high, with a 

 trunk 2-4 ft. in girth. Branches erect, compact, branchlets 

 divided into flat, jointed spray. Leaves in fours, the lateral 

 larger than and partly covering the facial, the bases long and 

 attached to the shoot as in Callitris, the free tips scale-like and 

 pointed. Cones terminal, solitary, rounded, ^| in. in diameter ; 

 scales 4, thick, woody, glaucous, triangular, two blunt and two 

 pointed at the apex, deeply grooved on the outside, with a small 

 spiny process near the apex. Seeds oval, with two broad wings 

 which widen above the seed. 



Native of Algeria, Morocco, Mogador, and Malta, where it 

 occupies positions subject to considerable periods of drought. 



Wood fragrant, brown, reddish or yellowish in colour, short- 

 grained, hard, and often beautifully marked as in " bird's-eye 

 maple." It has been popular for cabinets and furniture for 



