250 VARIETIES OF THUIA ORIENTAL!*. 



var. japonica (syn. fa(cata). 



Ill this form the lowermost branches are spreading and the tree has 

 a broadly pyramidal outline, the spread of the lower branches nearly 

 equalling the height of the principal stem. 



var. meldensis. 



A low columnar tree with ascending branches often so flexible as 

 to bend in any direction. The leaves are protomorphic, acicular, 

 acute, bluish glaucous green, changing to reddish brown in winter ; in 

 vigorous plants sometimes passing into the normal scale-like form of 

 the type. 



T. orientalis meldensis, supra. Biota orientalis meldensis, Beissner, Nadelholzk. 

 58, with tig. B. meldensis, Carriere, Traite Conif. ed. II. 102. Retiuispora 

 meldensis, Hort. Tlmia bybrida, Hort. 



var. pendula. 



This is the greatest divergence from the type yet seen. The branches 

 are elongated into flexible, pensile, cord-like appendages very sparsely 

 ramified ; the branchlets are produced in tufts of five twenty at 

 irregular intervals along the axial growths and clothed with 

 subulate acuminate leaves more distantly inserted than in the normal 

 form. 



T. orientalis pendula, Masters in Journ. R. Hort. Soc. XIV. 252. T. pendula, 

 Lambert, Genus Pinus, ed. II. Vol. II. p. 115. Siebold and Zuccarini, Fl. Jap. 

 II. 30, t. 117. T. filiformis, Lindley in Bot. Reg. (1842), t. 20. Biota pendula, 

 Endlicher, Synops. Conif. 49. B. orientalis pendula, Carriere, Traite Conif. ed. 

 II. 100. B.' orientalis filiformis, Beissner, Nadelholzk. 63. And many others. 



var. pygmsea. 



The most diminutive of all the varieties of Thuia orientalis ; it 

 forms a small hemispherical bush a few inches high which has a 

 yellowish brown tint. It is also known in gardens under the name of 

 Bwta duinosa. 



The habitat of the Chinese Arbor Vitte cannot be stated with 

 certainty, but from its hardiness it may safely be assumed to have a 

 northern origin that may hypothetically be referred to the botanically 

 unexplored regions in southern Mongolia, northern China and parts of 

 Thibet. The statement of Thunberg and others that it occurs wild in 

 the central mountains of Japan has not been confirmed by later 

 investigation, and it is now generally believed to be an introduced 

 plant in that country. The geographical range of Tlmia orientalis 

 must, however, be very extensive, since Boissier's statement that it has 

 been found wild at Asterabad in north-east Persia and also in the 

 Persian province of Khorassan is doubtless well authenticated. 



The date of introduction of Thuia orientalis into Great Britain is 

 unknown. According to Aiton* it was cultivated by Philip Miller in 

 the " Physic " garden at Chelsea in 1752, and was believed to have been 

 first sent to Europe by French missionaries. On account of its hardiness 

 and distinctness as an ornamental tree requiring but little space for its 

 development, it has always been one of the most appreciated of Conifers, 



* Hortus Kewensis, ed. II. Vol. V. p. 322. 



