266 A MANUAL OF THE CONlFERJi. 



progress is satisfactory ; under such, circumstances, it is one of the 

 finest of lawn trees. 



The specific name dolabrata, "shaped like a hatchet," refers to the 

 peculiar form of the leaves. 



Thuiopsis dolabrata lsetevirens— A dwarf compact variety, 

 with, slender much divided branches ; the leaves are smaller and 

 of a lighter green than those of the species, which suggested to 

 Dr. Lindley its designation "the cheerful green Thuiopsis." 



Introduced by Mr. J. G. Veitch in 1861. 



Thuiopsis dolabrata variegata. — A picturesque variety, resem- 

 bling the species in habit, but differing from it in having the 

 tips of the branchlets pale yellow or cream colour. 



Introduced by Mr. Fortune in 1861. 



VI— LIBOOEDEUS (Endlicher). The Incense Cedar. 



Libocedrus includes a small group of handsome evergreen trees 

 of Thuia-like aspect, natives of southern Chili and New Zealand. 

 To these is now added a Californian species generally known 

 among horticulturists as Thuia gigantea. The Libocedri are tall 

 trees, of pyramidal "or columnar habit, with horizontal or spreading 

 branches, and frondose branchlets, compressed or tetragonal, clothed 

 with scale-like imbricated leaves arranged in opposite pairs, and 

 having long decurrent basis, the last-named character being chiefly 

 that on which the genus has been separated from Thuia. The 

 cones are small, ovoid, composed of a whorl of four (seldom six) 

 scales in opposite pairs, of which one pair only are fertile, each 

 scale bearing two winged seeds. The wood is white or yellowish, 

 compact, fine in grain, and very durable ; * the timber afforded by 

 the Chilian species is especially valuable in that country for 

 constructive purposes. 



Libocedrus, from Xitavog (libanos), the name of a tree from which 

 the ancients obtained frankincense, but which has not been satis- 

 factorily identified by modern botanists, and dBpoe (kedros), " the 

 Cedar." The name has reference to the fragrance of the wood. 



* Prod., xvi., p. 464. 



