248 THUIA ORIEXTALLS. 



branchlets bright golden yellow which changes to light green in 

 winter.* 



T. occidentalis var. Wareana, Masters in Gard. Chron. XXI. ser. 3^(1897), 



p. 258. T. Wareana, Hort. T. occidentalis var. robusta, Carriere, Traite Conif 



ed. II. 109. 



The geographical range of Thuia occidentalis may be roughly stated 

 as extending over the eastern portion of the North American continent 

 from Nova Scotia westwards to Lake Winnipeg and meridionally from 

 James Bay to southern Virginia. It is very common in the great areas 

 of swamp land in Canada and the north-eastern United States, 

 becoming less abundant southwards, and dwindling to a small scrubby 

 bush at its northern limit. 



Thuia occidentalis was probably the first American coniferous tree 

 cultivated in Great Britain; it was introduced prior to 1597 in which 

 year it was mentioned by Gerrard in his "Historic of Plants." Originally 

 planted as an ornamental tree when the species of evergreen trees for 

 garden decoration were few in number, it receded in time before the 

 more attractive Conifers subsequently introduced, and it is now for the 

 most part relegated to such uses as the formation of high hedges where 

 the soil is sufficiently moist, or associated with other common Conifers for 

 belts and screens. On dry and sandy soils Thuia occidentalis grows 

 slowly and becomes too thin and unfurnished to be of any ornamental 

 value ; in the humid climate of Perthshire, the west of Scotland and 

 Ireland handsome well-furnished specimens may frequently be seen. 



The wood is soft, light and brittle, rather coarse-grained and very 

 fragrant; it is remarkable for durability, of which many striking instances 

 are recorded, and on this account it is much used for outdoor carpentry, 

 as fencing, bridges, railway ties, etc. 



Thuia orientalis. 



A low tree of columnar or pyramidal habit, often a dense shrub of 

 broadly conical or globose outline, the arborescent form rarely exceeding 

 20 25 feet in height with a much-branched trunk covered with thin 

 reddish brown bark that peels off in longitudinal shreds. Primary 

 branches first spreading, then ascending ; in the shrubby forms, crowded, 

 erect or ascending; secondary branches numerous, erect or ascending, 

 terminating in vertical branchlet systems distichously ramified. Leaves 

 in decussate pairs ; on the older axial growths acicular, free at the apex ; 

 on the lateral ramifications scale-like, ovate, acute, concrescent or 

 imbricated, bright green in summer, brownish in winter. Staminate 

 flowers globose with eight twelve anthers in decussate pairs. Strobiles 

 ovoid-oblong, about an inch long, composed, of six, rarely eight ovate, 

 thickish, imbricated scales terminating above in a horn-like process, the 

 uppermost pair much smaller than the others and sterile, each fertile scale 

 bearing one two wingless seeds. 



* The distinction made in the text between the varieties plicata and Wareana is not 

 always very obvious ; the two forms are nearly identical in habit, but plicata has a 

 decided brownish tint even in summer which distinguishes it from the bright green of 

 Wareana. There are, however, in cultivation, intermediate forms that may with equal 

 light be referred to either. 



