CONIFER. 
120 SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 
Cupressus Lawsoniana is distributed from the shores of Coos Bay in southwestern Oregon 
southward to the mouth of the Klamath River, California, and ranges inland for about thirty miles 
from the coast; it occurs on the mountains near Waldo in Josephine County, Oregon, and in small 
isolated groves on the slopes of the Siskiyou Mountains and on the southern flanks of Mt. Shasta in 
California, where, growing on the banks of streams and lakes at an elevation of about five thou- 
sand feet above the sea, it was discovered in the autumn of 1854 by Mr. William Murray. North of 
Rogue River on the coast of Oregon it is most abundant, and, mingled with Pseudotsuga taxifolia, 
Picea Sitchensis, Thuya gigantea, Tsuga Mertensiana, and Abies grandis, forms one of the most 
prolific and beautiful coniferous forests of the continent, unsurpassed in the variety and luxuriance of 
its undergrowth of Rhododendrons, Vacciniums, Raspberries, Buckthorns, and Ferns. Here Cupressus 
Lawsoniana grows on rather high dry sandy ridges, its seedlings soon covering the ground which 
has been stripped of its forest mantle, and flourishes even on the sand-dunes of sea-beaches, where it 
is often bathed in saline spray. It attains its largest size, however, on the western slopes of the Coast 
Range foothills, where, about three miles from the shore, between Point Gregory and the mouth of the 
Coquille River, it is the principal tree in a nearly continuous forest belt about twenty miles in length 
and twelve in width.’ 
Cupressus Lawsoniana, which is probably the largest and most valuable of the Cupressinex, and 
remarkable for the great thickness of the bark of its trunk, is one of the important timber-trees of 
North America. The wood is light, hard, strong, and very close-grained, abounding in fragrant resin, 
and is very durable in contact with the soil and easily worked, with a satiny surface susceptible of 
receiving a beautiful polish ; itis light yellow or almost white, with thin hardly distinguishable sapwood, 
and contains thin inconspicuous layers of small summer-cells and numerous obscure medullary rays. 
The specific gravity of the absolutely dry wood is 0.4621, a cubic foot weighing 28.80 pounds. It is 
largely manufactured into lumber, and on the Pacific coast is used for the interior finish and flooring 
of buildings, for railway-ties and fence-posts, in ship and boat building, and almost exclusively in the 
manufacture of matches. The resin is a powerful diuretic.’ 
Cupressus Lawsoniana* was first cultivated in the nursery of Peter Lawson & Company of 
Edinburgh, where it was raised from seeds sent from California in 1854 by William Murray. With 
its delicate feathery branches, its graceful drooping leading shoots, and its ight and cheerful color, 
Cupressus Lawsoniana in youth is one of the most beautiful of the conifers cultivated in gardens. 
In western, central, and southern Europe, where it has already attained a considerable size, it is a 
favorite ornament of parks and gardens, and under cultivation has developed many abnormal forms.‘ 
It is occasionally planted in the middle and south Atlantic states, although here it displays less beauty 
than in western Europe. 
The specific name commemorates Sir Charles Lawson® of Bothwick Hall, Mid-Lothian, the 
distinguished rural economist, and Lord Provost of the city of Edinburgh. 
1 Sargent, Gard. Chron. n. ser. xvi. 8. 
2 The odor of the resin of the newly cut wood is so powerful 
that men employed in the saw-mills where it is manufactured into 
lumber become, at the end of a few days, so weakened by diuresis 
that they have to abandon work unless a change to some other 
wood is made. 
8 In Oregon Cupressus Lawsoniana is also called Oregon Cedar, 
White Cedar, and Ginger Pine. 
* See Gard. Chron. 1870, 279, f. 49 (Cupressus Lawsoniana, erecta 
viridis). — Gard. Chron. ser. 3, i. 176, £. 41. — The Garden, xxx. 
75. — Beissner, Handb. Nadelh. 72. 
§ Charles Lawson (1794-1873) was a son of Peter Lawson, the 
founder of the seed and nursery business of Peter Lawson & Sons, 
of Edinburgh. In 1821 he succeeded his father, with whom he had 
been associated, in the management of the affairs of the firm, which 
by his intelligence and energy he soon made a power in the de- 
velopment of Scottish agriculture, extending its connections to all 
parts of the world. He introduced many useful plants into his 
native land, including the Italian Rye-grass, the Austrian Pine, 
and Lawson’s Cypress. He was the author of The A grostographia, 
or Book of Grasses, which passed through several editions and was 
long considered the standard British book on agricultural grasses, 
and of The «1 griculturist’s Manual, published in 1836, and containing 
familiar descriptions of the agricultural plants cultivated in 
Europe, with practical observations respecting those suited to the 
climate of Great Britain. Some time before his death Mr. Lawson 
began the publication of the Pinetum Britannicum, an illustrated 
folio devoted to the description of the hardy coniferous trees cul- 
