THUYA 



CONIFEES 



CUPBESSUS 977 



and upright habit, much in demand, and 

 in a small state very useful for the rock 

 garden. 



The American Arbor Vitse does not 

 appear to be a popular tree in either 

 British or Irish gardens. In the returns 

 from more than 100 of the largest gardens 

 in Great Britain and Ireland, not a single 

 specimen is mentioned, although a plant 

 of the variety pendula over 15 ft. is 

 recorded in Powerscourt Gardens, co. 

 "Wioklow. 



Culture Sc. as above. 



T. orientalis {Biota orientalis). — 

 Chinese Arbor Vitce. — A graceful pyrami- 

 dal tree or bush 18-20 ft. high, native of 

 China and Japan. Its branches are more or 

 less vertical or horizontal at first, but ulti- 

 mately more or less parallel and pointing 

 upwards. The very small imbricating 

 ovate-rhomboid acute leaves are arranged 

 in 4 rows along the branchlets, and the 

 roundish cones are composed of 6-8 pro- 

 jecting or reflexed scales. 



There are as many garden forms 

 of the Chinese Arbor Vitae as of the 

 American one, and it is equally diffi- 

 cult to distinguish more than a few of 

 them. There are silver, gold, glaucous, 

 and variegated forms known respectively 

 as argentea, aurea, glaucaf&ndvariegata; 

 there are others called compacta, gracilis, 

 elegantissima, pyramidalis &c., which 

 may be applied to any forms answering 

 the descriptions. The variety pendula, 

 however, is a distinct shrub 10-15 ft. high, 

 with long slender recurved branches and 

 loosely drooping thread-like branchlets. 

 It is probably better known to gardeners 

 as Biota pendula, and the ' "Weeping 

 Arbor Vitse.' 



Culture (£c. as above. 



T. plicata [T. gigantea plicata ; T. 

 occidentaUs pUcafa; T. warreana). — 

 A native of Nootka Sound, N. America, 

 where it becomes a handsorue tree 50-66 

 ft. high, but rarely more than 20 ft. high 

 in the British Islands. The long slender 

 linear-pointed branchjets are furnished 

 with bluntly ovate imbricated flat smooth 

 small leaves in 4 rows, of a bright green 

 above, and a dull glaucous-green beneath, 

 those on young plants being very much 

 pointed. Cones small, solitary, ovoid 

 oblong. There is a tiny miniature form 

 called minima, which scarcely grows more 

 than 1 in. a year. The variety variegata 

 has portions of the branchlets tinged with 



pale yellow, which intermixed with the 

 green portions gives a pleasing effect. 

 There is also a crested form, known as 

 cristata, and a yellowish one called lutea. 

 Culture d-c. as above. 



CUPRESSUS (Cypebss). — Accord- 

 ing to Dr. Masters ' true Cypresses are 

 known by. their scale-like appressed adult 

 leaves never in two ranks, moncBoious 

 flowers, male flowers spiked, anthers 

 crested — 4 or more, poUen globose ; cones 

 globular or oblong, woody, ripening in 

 the second year, with peltate scales and 

 numerous seeds to each scale. Cotyledons 

 2, leafy, longer than the primary leaves, 

 which are opposite or in whorls of 4.' 



The plants known under the name of 

 Chamcecyparis and Betinospora ' differ 

 from the true Cypresses in having 

 generally 2-ranked branchlets and flat- 

 tened branch systems ; smaller cones 

 ripening the first year ; the scales less 

 woody, and usually with a smaller 

 number of seeds.' 



The Cypresses are among the most 

 ornamental trees and shrubs in cultiva- 

 tion, and notwithstanding the sombre 

 evergreen hue of many of them, they 

 exhibit a good deal of colour and a variety 

 of graceful forms. 



Culture and Bropagation. — They 

 succeed in rich and rather moist but well- 

 drained loamy soil, and may be increased 

 by cuttings, layers, or seeds. As the 

 seeds of the true Cj'presses, as stated 

 above, take 2 years to ripen, it is well 

 to wait until the matured cones burst 

 naturally before obtaining the seed for 

 sowing purposes. In the Chamsecyparis 

 section, which includes C. lawsoniana, 

 C. nootkatensis, and C. thyoides, the cones 

 usually burst open in spring, and their 

 seeds may then be collected and sown in 

 a warm light soil. Young plants wiU 

 appear in 6 or 8 weeks, perhaps more, 

 and may be allowed to stand until the 

 following spring before transplanting 

 them for the first time, after which they 

 need not be moved for another year or 

 two according to their growth. They are 

 often grown on in pots in nurseries, but 

 for the reasons stated above at p. 974 it is 

 not advisable to use pot plants. 



Cuttings of the tops of the growing or 

 ripened leafy shoots, 2-3 in. long, inserted 

 in cold shaded frames or under handlights 

 in sandy soil will root. Ripened side 

 shoots are preferable to unripened ones, 



3 E 



