45 Con ifercz Retinospora. 



These shrubs are included under the genus Chamcecyparis 

 by some writers. Some of the forms described as species 

 are probably not entitled to that rank. They are all from 

 Japan. 



1. R. pisifera. A small tree with very slender feathery 

 branchlets and scale-like very acute imbricate slightly spreading 

 leaves of a yellowish-green tinge, glaucous beneath. Fruit 

 very small, about as large as a medium pea. This is a very 

 distinct shrub of somewhat irregular habit, and it appears to 

 be quite hardy in the South of England. There is a variety 

 aurea with gold and green variegated foliage, and a variety 

 argentea with silvery foliage. 



2. R. oblusa. A very beautiful species, forming a tree of 60 

 to 100 feet in Japan. Young plants of it are densely branched 

 shrubs with closely imbricated decurrent obtuse tubercled leaves 

 of a deep vivid green, silvery below or in shady places. Fruit 

 larger than in the last. A very desirable hardy shrub. R. lyco- 

 podioldes is said to be a variety of this in which some of the 

 leaves are subulate and spreading. There are also the varieties 

 aurea and argentea with gold and silver variegated foliage; and 

 a miniature form called pygmwa, syn. Thuja pygmcea. 



R. ericoldes, syn. Cupressus ericoldes, a well-known com- 

 pact conical dwarf bush, and the first of the genus cultivated 

 in this country, is considered by some as the primordial form of 

 R. obtusa, and by others it is referred to R. leptoclada. In 

 this all the leaves are linear and spreading, densely arranged in 

 four ranks on the slender branchlets, somewhat rigid and acute, 

 bright green above and glaucous beneath, assuming a ruddy 

 tint in winter. It grows from 2 to 4 feet high. 



3. R. plumosa. The varieties ranged under this name are 

 exceedingly beautiful dwarf shrubs with very dense slender 

 flexible feathery branchlets dotted with acicular more or less 

 spreading leaves. The one called argenteo-variegata resembles 

 ericoldes in its foliage, except that it is soft, silvery and pale 

 green ; but the branches are less regular, and the branchlets 

 slenderer and flexible. Probably this and the other varieties 

 under this name belong to some of the other species. 



4. R. squarrosa. A dwarf spherical shrub with slender 

 drooping branches and minute imbricate scale-like foliage of a 

 silvery green. It is reported as being rather tender. 



R. leptoclada, syn. R. squarrosa leptoclada^ is a more erect- 





