588 THUYA THYMEL.EA 



forms. Its branches are often pendulous and cord-like, but stiff, producing 

 the branchlets in crowded clusters. Leaves slender, awl-shaped, i in. long, 

 produced in pairs or in threes. Although the foliage is of a juvenile type, 

 this form occasionally produces fertile cones; the seed giving ordinary 

 Thuya orientalis. 



T. PLICATA, D. Don. GIANT THUYA. 



(T. Craigiana, Hort. ; T. gigantea, Nuttall ; T. Lobbii, Hort. ; T. Menziesii, Douglas.) 



A tree up to 200 ft. high in a wild state, with a trunk sometimes 15 ft. in 

 diameter at the buttressed base; in cultivation a slender, pyramidal tree in 

 some places already approaching 100 ft. in height. Unless close-planted it 

 retains its branches to the ground, but is inclined to become thin at the top. 

 Branches curving upwards at the ends, branchlets drooping, strong-smelling 

 and slightly aromatic when crushed; ultimate subdivisions ^ to -^ in. wide, 

 flattened. Leaves dark glossy green, scale-like, ^ to & m - l n g; &e lateral 

 ones the longer, with their edges infolded and overlapping the flatter ones 

 above and below the twig; they are all sharply pointed and have glaucous 

 patches beneath. Cones egg-shaped, ^ in. long; scales about ten, with a 

 small triangular boss just beneath the apex. 



Native chiefly of British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington; to a small 

 extent also of California. Introduced by W. Lobb for Messrs Veitch in 

 1853, it has proved by far the handsomest and best growing of the Thuyas. 

 In gardens it is often grown as T. Lobbii and T. gigantea, but it was first 

 given the name "plicata" by Don in 1824, ten years previous to Nuttall's 

 name " gigantea " and thirty years before " Lobbii " came into use. To add 

 to the confusion, Libocedrus decurrens-was for long called " Thuya gigantea.'' 

 T. plicata is distinguished from the E. American T. occidentalis by the 

 glaucousness and comparative scarcity of glands beneath the branchlet, and 

 by its much more rapid, cleaner growth. From T. japonica it differs in its 

 denser habit, finer spray, and different odour. It is considered very promising 

 as a forest tree in many parts of England. 



Var. AUREA. Much of the young growth yellow. 



Var. GRACILIS. Spray finer, and with smaller leaves. 



Var. PYRAMIDALIS. Of slender columnar form; distinct, and worthy of 

 cultivation. 



Var. ZEBRINA. Spray with curious patches of yellow interspersed with 

 the ordinary green of the current year's shoots. 



Young trees of Thuya plicata grown in large batches have been attacked 

 by a parasitic fungus, Botrytis cinerea. 



* THYMEL^EA NIVALIS, Meissner. THYMEL.EACE/E. 



(Passerina nivalis, Ramond.') 



A semi-prostrate evergreen shrub, 4 to 8 ins. high, with half woody, 

 slightly hairy, unbranched shoots. Leaves densely arranged in whorls 

 of threes (about seven whorls to the inch), stalkless, linear, J to J in. 

 long, about -^ in. wide, bluntish pointed, slightly hairy about the 

 margins, dull greyish green, rather fleshy. Flowers solitary in each 

 leaf-axil, stalkless, \ in. across, scarcely so long, yellow. Calyx tubular 

 at the base, dividing at the top into four ovate lobes, two of which are 

 conspicuously broader than the other two. Stamens yellow, eight, in two 



