i6 THE PINE FAMILY. 



■« 



SOUTHERN WHITE CEDAR. {Plate VI.) 

 Chamcecy Paris tJiy aides. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Fine. Spire-like ; l>rtinckes 30-90 /tv^. Florida atid M ississippi Aprils May. 



horizontal. to Maine. 



Bark : light reddish Ijrown ; very fibrous ; separating into loose scales. Bramh- 

 lets : brown ; their thin bark also separating. Leaves : tiny ; simple ; ovate and 

 awl-shaped; overlapping each other like scales and growing closely together in 

 rows of four, up and down the branchlets. Dull brownish or blue-green ; glaucous. 

 Floivers : monoecious, growing in few flowered terminal aments. Cones : hardly 

 one half an inch wide; globose; sessile on leafy branches ; purplish at maturity; 

 glaucous, and opening to\vards the centre when ripe, not towards the base. Scales : 

 thick; several-pointed and as though fastened at their centres. Seec/s: one or 

 more under each fertile scale ; oval ; winged at the sides. 



It would seem as though among non-botanists, there were some slight 

 difficulty extant about the distinguishing of this tree from the arbor vita^, 

 the two are so often mistaken, the one for the other. This could hardly 

 be said of the careful observer, and especially when the fruits of the trees are 

 beginning to mature. That of our plant is a round, drupe-like cone, bluish 

 purple, covered densely with a bloom and which turns at maturity to dark, 

 reddish brown. It is always quite different in shape and aspect from the 

 ovate, tan-coloured product of the arbor vitas. In leafage also the trees 

 are dissimilar, the branchlets of this one being quite without the peculiar 

 flatness which characterises the other. In the south, our tree is mostly 

 hidden away in swamps where its life is best known and of the most import 

 to lumbermen. 



The wood of Chamsecyparis thyoides is valuable and adaptable for 

 many purposes. Its aromatic, pungent odour, among other things, makes 

 it prized by the people for buckets or casques, as the water they hold par- 

 takes somewhat of its flavour. Oils also are well preserved in vessels 

 made of this wood. From the young stalks a considerable amount of char- 

 coal for gun powder is procured. 



ARBOR VIT/E. WHITE CEDAR. 



Thiija occidentalis. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Pine. Conical: brandies io-(i^feet. Virginia ami JV. Carolina April, May. 



pendulous. to Hudson Bay. 



Bark: greyish brown; tinged with orange or red, and separated into narrow, 

 deciduous strips. Leaves: simple; o'pposite ; blunt; scale-like and overlajiping 

 each other as they grow closely together on branchlets that are very flat. Bright 

 green; aromatic; especially so when bruised. LYowers : monoecious, terminal.. 

 Cones: tiny ; yellowish brown when mature, glaucous when young; ovate; nodding 



