260 ATHROTAXIS. 



twenty imbricated scales, having a thickened broad disk from which 

 are suspended three six ovules. 



Strobiles ligneous, globose, from 0*5 to 1 inch in diameter ; scales 

 ovoid-rhombic, cuiieate at the base, sub-acuminate or peltately dilated at 

 the apex, ascending, each with three six winged seeds. 

 The genus is the most restricted of the tribe in which it is 

 included, as regards its geographical distribution, being confined to a 

 few localities in Tasmania chiefly on the Western Mountains 

 ascending in places to the summit which is about 4,000 feet above 

 the level of the surrounding ocean. 



As seen at their best development in Great Britain, the Athrotaxes 

 are Cypress-like trees of distinct aspect and great beauty. They were 

 introduced about the year 1857 by the late Mr. William Archer, 

 of Cheshunt, and although fairly hardy in many parts of the country, 

 they are only of value as decorative plants for the lawn and garden in 

 the milder and more humid climate of Devon and Cornwall, parts of 

 Wales, Ireland and similar places. 



Fine specimens of Athrotaxis are growing at Menabilly, Cornwall 

 (A, laxifolia); Upcott near Barnstaple (A. cupressoides); Castle wellan, Co. 

 Down (A. selayinoides and A. laxifolia); Powerscourt, Co. Wicklow 

 (A. cupressoides); and notably at Kilmacurragh in the same county where 

 there is a tree of each species in robust health, from 25 to 30 feet 

 high, all of columnar habit. 



The generic name is from adpvos (crowded), and rafa (arrangement) in 

 allusion to the crowded order of the scales of the fruit. 



The nearest affinity is'Cryptomeria, so near indeed that horticulturists some- 

 times avail themselves of it as a means of propagating the species of Athrotaxis.* 

 An especial interest is attached to the existing members of the 

 Taxodinese on account of the great antiquity of their ancestral 

 forms, and of tbeir intimate association with the vegetation of past 

 ages. The striking resemblance of the species of Athrotaxis to 

 the fossil remains of a Conifer found in the Upper Oolite (Mesozoic) 

 of Solenhofen, and to other remains that have been found in 

 Yorkshire, Argyllshire and the Thames Valley afford evidence that 

 ancestral forms of Athrotaxis were widely distributed over the 

 eastern hemisphere in remote epochs, and which have in the course 

 of time succumbed to the ceaseless successive changes which have 

 affected the Earth's surface and climate during geological ages, until 

 they have receded to their last abiding place in the small island 

 of Tasmania where they now exist in numbers so small that the 

 individual trees could be counted. The fate of species so reduced 

 in the number of the individuals comprising them is inevitable, 

 although they may be preserved indefinitely by the hand of Man. 



* The variety of C ryptomeria japonica with primordial leaves, known in gardens as 

 C. elegans, is readily propagated from cuttings. These rooted cuttings are used as stocks for 

 grafting scions taken from the species of Athrotaxis. 





