THUJOPSIS 



Thujopsis, Siebold et Zuccarini, Fl. Jap. ii. 32 (1842). 

 Thuya, Bentham et Hooker, Gen. PL iii. 427 (1880). 

 Cupressus, Masters, /oz/r/?. Linn. Soc. (Bot.), xxx. 19 (1893) and xxxi. 363 (1896). 



This genus is considered by many authorities to be merely a section of Cupressus 

 or of Thuya. The foliage and cones, however, are remarkably distinct, and justify 

 its retention as a separate genus. 



Evergreen trees, belonging to the tribe Cupressinese of the order Coniferce, 

 with reddish bark scaling off in longitudinal shreds. Branches in false whorls 

 or scattered, giving off secondary branches, which terminate in very flattened 

 branch-systems, disposed in horizontal planes. These resemble in their general 

 arrangement those of Thuya and Chameecyparis, and are mostly tripinnate, all the 

 axes being covered with small coriaceous leaves, adnate in part of their length, and 

 arranged in four ranks in decussate pairs. The leaves on the main and ultimate 

 axes differ only in size. 



The ventral and dorsal leaves are flattened and ovate or spathulate, with 

 rounded apices ; the lateral leaves are carinate, more or less spreading, with a 

 slightly acute apex, which is bent inwards. The dorsal flat leaves are shining green, 

 and marked with a central ridge, which is often hollowed in the middle line. The 

 ventral flat leaves have a central green ridge, with a concavity white with stomata 

 on each side. The lateral leaves, green on the dorsal side, exhibit a single stomatic 

 concavity on their ventral side. 



Flowers monoecious, solitary, and terminal, the male and female flowers borne 

 on separate lateral branchlets as in Thuya. Male flowers cylindric, \ inch long, 

 with six decussate pairs of stamens. Female flowers with five ovules on each scale. 

 Cones globular, almost erect, with eight clavate, woody scales, in decussate pairs 

 from a central axis, the upper pair abortive. Seeds three to five on a scale, laterally 

 winged, the wing not notched at the summit. 



The seedling ^ resembles that of Thuya plicata, but has broader and very blunt 

 cotyledons, with shorter and broader primary leaves. 



1 See Tubeuf, Samen, FriicJUc, u. KeinUinge, 103, fig. 143 (189 1). 



II 



201 



