

GENUS TAXODIUM. "" '"^115 



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soft, feathery foliage, which during summer is of a cheerful 

 pea-green, slowly changing as autumn advances to a deep red, 

 rendering it distinct from every other conifer in cultivation. 

 Even during winter, when leafless, the tree is very attractive, 

 for the highly-coloured bark of the branches and twigs is re- 

 splendent in the evening sunshine, and seen at a short way off 

 appears as if all aglow. It is specially adapted for planting in 

 swampy ground, by the lake or pond side, or on small islands, 

 thriving under such conditions in a manner that is quite sur- 

 prising. The habit of growth differs with the age of the 

 specimen, young trees up to 25 feet in height keeping to the 

 almost strictly pyramidal, while in many old specimens through- 

 out the country the spread of the head is equal to, if not sur- 

 passing, that of any other portion. The foliage is always of a 

 light and airy appearance, the pinnate leaves being arranged 

 in horizontal rows on each side of the midrib. Thsy vary in 

 length even on the same twig, but are usually fully \ an 

 inch long, closely arranged, and somewhat arching, with the 

 convex side outwards. The cones are not freely produced, but 

 home-grown specimens that I have collected are of an inch 

 long, nearly the same in greatest diameter, and bearing small 

 three-sided seeds. The Deciduous Cypress is remarkable in 

 producing root protuberances, known as cypress knees, these 

 sometimes in this country reaching to 2 feet in height, par- 

 ticularly when the tree is growing in a swampy situation. 



T- mucronatum, Tenore. {Synonyms: T. Monte- 

 znmce, Decaisne ; T. mexicanwn, Carri^re ; T. distichum 

 inexicanum, Gordon.) Mexico. This tree is amply distinct 

 in cultivation from the hardier and more widely grown T. 

 distichum^ but with which it is often mixed up. It is of far 

 more refined growth than that species, if I may use the ex- 

 pression, the branches and branchlets being shorter, more 

 slender and horizontally arranged, and the foliage less abun- 

 dant, and of a fresher green. The tree, too, is of much smaller 

 growth, far more uniform in its branch arrangement, and with 

 a very narrow spread in proportion to the height, this latter 

 being a distinguishing characteristic. It is when the two 



