244 THUIA JAPONICA. 



in 1844, renewed his engagement with Mr. Veiteh, and sailed again for Brazil in 

 April of the following year. After sending home from Rio Janeiro a consignment 

 of plants which he had collected in southern Brazil, he proceeded to Valparaiso, for 

 the purpose of exploring southern Chile, at that time but little known to Europeans, 

 except along the coast. Here a rich harvest awaited him. Among his earliest 

 successful introductions from this region were Lapageria rosea,* Escallonia macrantha,^ 

 Embothrium coccineum,^ Philesia biixifolia,% and Desfontainea spinosa.\\ Following 

 up these brilliant achievements, he continued his explorations in Valdivia, Chiloe, 

 and northern Patagonia, where he collected seeds and plants of Libocedrus tetragona, 

 Fitzroyct patagonica, Saxe-Gfothcea conspicua, and Podocarpus mibigenus, " four most 

 interesting Conifers for this country, after Araucaria imbricata, that South America 

 produces. "IT Nor must mention be omitted of Herberts Darwinii,** which was first 

 introduced to British gardens by him during the same expedition. Lobb returned to 

 England in 1848. The wonderful Conifers discovered by Douglas in California and 

 Oregon were then still very scarce in England, and young plants of most of the 

 species could scarcely be bought with money ; ft it was therefore decided that he 

 should proceed to California with a view of obtaining seeds of all the most important 

 kinds known, and to discover others, if possible. He landed at San Francisco in the 

 summer of 1849, and at once made arrangements for exploring southern California. 

 One of the first fruits of the expedition was the successful introduction of Abies 

 bracteata. During the years 1850 1851 he sent home consignments of cones and 

 seeds of Pinus radiata, P. muricata, P. Sabiniana, P. Coulteri and P. tuberculatM ; also of 

 many shrubs and flowering plants, some of which were quite new to British gardens. 

 In the autumn of 1851 he extended his operations further north, and collected cones 

 and seeds of the Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), Pinus Lambertiana, P. monticola, etc. 

 In 1852 he made an excursion to the Columbia river and Oregon where he succeeded 

 in obtaining seeds of Abietia Douglasii and Abies nobilis, still rare at that time in 

 England, and the beautiful Thuia provisionally named after him. Returning through North 

 California, he collected seeds of Abies grandis, A. magnified which he sent home 

 under the name of A. amabilis, believing it to be the A. amabilis of Douglas, 

 A. concolor (var. Lowiana) the first received in England of that fine Fir, Juniperus 

 calif ornica, Pinus ponderosa, etc. In 1853 he explored the Sierra Nevada, whither he 

 was led by the reports of the discovery of trees of extraordinary magnitude 

 which he had the good fortune to find, and to secure the first cones and seeds of the 

 "Wellingtonia received in England. He brought these home at the end of the year, 

 and with them two living plants which were afterwards planted out in the Exeter 

 Nursery, where they survived but three or four years. Lobb returned to California 

 in the autumn of 1854, and from that time up to the end of 1856 he continued 

 to send home consignments of plants and seeds. In 1857 his engagement with 

 Mr. Veiteh terminated. He remained, however, in California, and sent collections 

 of seeds to England from time to time. In 1863 he was seized with paralysis, and 

 lost the use of his limbs ; he died at San Francisco in the autumn, of the same. 

 year, and was buried in Lone Mountain Cemetery. 



Thuia japonica. 



A conical tree 20 30 feet high with a slender tapering trunk 

 clothed with reddish brown bark that peels off in longitudinal 

 shreds. Primary branches short, spreading horizontally and ramified 

 irregularly at the distal end into branchlet systems as in Thuia, 

 occidentalis. Leaves persistent three four years, changing to red- 

 browii on the axial growths before disappearing, arranged in decussate 

 pairs, the lateral pair conduplicate with a sharp keel, longer and more 

 acute than the flat, ovate, concrescent, dorsiventral pair, but on the 

 younger and lateral growths nearly equal to them, light fulvous green 

 and with a small gland at the apex on the exposed or upper side of 



Bot. Mag. 4447. t Idem, 4473. J Idem, 4856. Idem, 4738. 



|| Idem, 4781. IT Idem, 4616. ** Idem, 4590. 



tt London, Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum, pp. 2249, 2251, 2266, 2344. 



