EETINOSPOBA OBTUSA. 



245 



en 1861, par M. Veitch fils" (TraitS, p. 139) rests on no evidence 

 ' that we possess. 



As a garden shrub the Retinospora leptoclada above described, is 

 both useful and distinct, and may be always employed with advantage in 

 the shrubbery and for winter bedding, a moist situation being best for it. 



Retinospora lycopodioides. — A low tree or shrub, of spreading 

 habit and irregular outline ; branches rigid, spreading, and much 

 divided; branchlets numerous, irregularly arranged on all sides of 

 the primaries, more closely set at the extremities, where they are 

 contorted and flattened; leaves crowded, thickened, closely imbri- 

 cated around the stem, and of a deep rich green colour, which 

 is retained through the winter. 



Retinospora obtusa. — A tall tree, with straight, erect, and 



tapering trunk, attain- 

 ing a height of from 

 60 to 100 feet, with a 

 diameter of 4 feet 

 near the ground. The 

 branches are numerous 

 and spreading, the 

 lower ones decumbent 

 by the weight of their 

 appendages; secondary 

 branches crowded, and 

 produced laterally 

 only ; the branchlets 

 flattened, frond - like ; 

 the leaves small, scale- 

 like, imbricated in four 

 rows, closely appressed 

 to the stem, and light 

 fulvous green. The 

 strobiles or cones are 



Fig. W.-RMno,pora oltma. about j^tf an ^h { n 



diameter, and composed of eight or ten scales, arranged in opposite 

 pairs, each scale having an umbo or small protuberance on the 

 exterior surface. 



