JVotcs and Glean ins^s. 



311 



CuPRESSUS Lawsoxiaxa erecta viridis. — No one who saw the examples 

 of this new Conifer exhibited at South Kensington, by Mr. Anthony Waterer, 

 — still less any one who has had the good fortune to inspect the parent plant 

 growing in the nursery at Knaphill, — will, for a moment, dispute the assertion 

 that it is one of the finest — ay, one of the very finest — hardy coniferous ever- 

 greens which have been introduced to our r;ardens. And, as indicating one of its 

 most prominent characteristics, we must reiterate that it is, in every sense, an 

 evergreen ; for, despite any amount of cold or heat, damp or drought, it main- 

 tains throughout, from the circumference to the centre, a hue of the freshest 

 green. This constancy in a plant of this character is one of the highest recom- 

 mendations it can bear. 



But its truly evergreen character is not its only merit. Its narrow, erect, 

 slightly pyramidal, almost columnar mode of growth is quite unapproached, for 

 symmetry and beauty, by any other plant we know ; while the slender ramifica- 

 tions of its close-set, compact branches and branchlets give it a degree of refine- 

 ment which is not seen in" any other variety of this grand, hardy species, numer- 

 ous and varied as are its forms, and elegant as are some of their number. Unlike 

 some other choice conifers, this KnaphilJ cypress, though dense as an Irish 

 yew, is moreover green to the very stem — a circumstance which is perhaps 

 attributable, in some measure, to the regularly radiating character of the flattened 

 spray of which the columnar mass is made up. We have ourselves watched this 

 plant for several seasons, and can bear testimony to the fact that in the Knaphill 

 climate, where araucarias have perished by thousands, ii is utterly unaffected, 

 both as to vitality and hue, by the severest frosts. 



The history of this valuable introduction, as we learn from Mr. Waterer, is as 

 follows: It was a seedling raised at Knaphill, and selected from the original 

 batch of C. Lawsomana imported from California. The original plant, which 

 is consequently about sixteen or seventeen years old, was grown on for several 

 years, with the object of fully testing its merits before it was distributed ; and 

 eventually, when its character was satisfactorily established, it was propagated 

 and partially sold under the name of C. Lawsoniana erecta. Of late years, 

 however, and especially since the destructive frost of 1867, its great merit has 

 been more distincdy recognized ; and examples of it submitted at the last meeting 

 of the floral committee were unanimously awarded a first-class certificate. On this 

 occasion, and in order to distinguish it from some other dissimilar forms which 

 bear the designation of erecta, the committee gave it the name we have adopted at 

 the head of this notice, as marking one of its most distinctive features of merit. 



The parent plant is about nine feet high, and three feet through its widest part. 

 The growth is strictly erect, and so close and dense as to form a solid mass of 

 branchlets, which are flattened, and set in a direction radiating with remarkable 

 regularity from the centre or axis of the plant, the wood being perfectly clothed, 

 and the branchlets green to the very centre. This tree has never been protected 

 in the slightest degree. In the symmetrical outline of the tree itself, in the reg- 

 ularly radiating vertical ramifications, in the slender, graceful character of the 

 everywhere erect spray, there is about this plant an air of refinement rarely met 

 with, and which, combined with its bright and enduring verdure, stamps it as a gem 

 of the first order amongst hardy evergreens. M., in Gardener'' s Clwonicle. 



