180 LIBOCEDRUS, OR 



No. 1. Libocedrus Chilensis, EndlicJier, the Chilian Arbor- 



Vitse. 



Syn. Thuja Chilensis, Don. 

 Andina, Pceppig. 

 cuneata, Dombey. 

 Cupressus Chilensis, Gillies. 

 thyoides, Pavon, not Linnaeus. 



Leaves in pairs, opposite, compressed, blunt, glaucous at the 

 sides, bright green at the back and edges, the lower pair being 

 much larger than the upper ones, and keeled at the back. 

 Branches compressed, obovate between the joints, bright green, 

 with glaucous furrows, and thickly covered with leaves, flat- 

 tened, and two-edged. Cones drooping on short foot-stalks, 

 half an inch long, and consisting of four woody scales in 

 opposite pairs. Scales face to face, and not overlapping, with 

 a sharp tubercle on the outside below the apex ; the two larger 

 scales have each two seeds at their base, the two lower or 

 smaller ones being abortive, each cone generally having four 

 seeds, which stand erect, and with unequal-sided wings. 



A fine evergreen tree, attaining a height of from 60 to 80 

 feet in the Andes of Chili, where it is found in cold valleys on 

 the Southern Andes, and on the volcano of Antuco, a mountain 

 about three degrees north of Valdivia. Pseppig states that it 

 resembles the American Arbor- Vitae when full grown, but is 

 less robust, sometimes branching from the base and gaining 

 the habit of a Cypress, but in other cases forming a conical 

 head, with a straight trunk, clothed with rough, cracked bark 

 of a brownish-ash colour, and scarcely more than a foot in 

 diameter, timber yellowish, resinous, hard, and strong-scented. 



It is nearly, or quite hardy in favourable situations in Eng- 

 land. 



