Illustrations of Conifers. 53 



CUPRE8SU3 LUSITANICA (Miller). Mexican Cypress 



"Cedar of Goa." 



Gardener*' Chronicle, Vol. X. p. 761 (1801) with fig. 



Veitch's Man. Conif. ed. 2, p. 210 (1900). 



Tree* of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. V. p. 1176 (1910). 



A tree varying greatly in habit, attaining in Mexico and Portugal 

 100 feet in height and 12 feet in girth. Bark reddish-brown with 

 longitudinal fissures. Branches wide-spreading, usually pendulous. 

 Branchlet systems alternate, not flattened, bi-pinnate ; ultimate 

 divisions quadrangular, y'g inch wide, Jo mcn thick. Leaves in 

 four ranks, fa inch long, appressed, ovate-acuminate, often mu- 

 cronate, occasionally pitted. 



Cones about !, inch in diameter when mature, covered with a 

 glaucous bloom, the points of the scales spreading and reflexed. 

 Seeds eight to ten on each scale, l inch long, winged, with resin- 

 vesicles. 



Ciq>res8U8 Iwtitanica is a native of Mexico where it is widely 

 distributed and occurs at altitudes ranging between 4,000 and 8,000 

 feet ; and also extends into the high mountains of Guatemala. It 

 has been for a long time cultivated in Portugal, where its head- 

 quarters are in the forest of Busaco : trees 60 to 100 feet high 

 were seen by Mr. Elwes in 1909. 



This cypress was introduced into English cultivation a few years 

 previous to 1682, when it was growing in the Chelsea and Fulham 

 Gardens. 



