CONIFERS OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION. 35 



Andes, toward the sources of the Columbia Kiver." A little further 

 on in his paper (1. c.) Nuttall says "This collection was made wholly 

 on the returning route of Mr. Wyeth from the falls of the Columbia to 

 the first navigable waters of the Missouri." 50 



About a dozen named horticultural varieties of western red cedar 

 have originated in European gardens, and all are distinguished by the 

 color of the foliage, habit of the branches, and form of the crown. 

 Five of these are fairly distinct as garden forms in the shape of the 

 crown, habit of the branches, and coloration of the foliage. Thuja 

 plicata gracillima (Beissner) Sudw. is distinguished by its small deli- 

 cate branches. When grown in rich, moist soil this form produces 

 the stouter branches, showing a tendency to revert to the normal type. 

 T. plicata compacta (Carr.) Beissner has a compact fastigiate crown 

 of thin delicate branches. T. plicata penduliformis Sudw. has long, 

 slender, drooping branches and twigs, similar in general appearance 

 to the weeping willow. T. plicata atrovirens (Gord.) Sudw. is dis- 

 tinguished by exceptionally dark-green brilliant foliage. T. plicata 

 variegata Carr. has golden-yellow mottled foliage, while a similar 

 form, T. phcata albo-maculata (Hort. ex Beissner), has white- 

 mottled foliage. 



DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS. 



Perhaps the most prominent characteristic of western red cedar is 

 its decidedly conical trunk form, which, in the case of very old trees, 

 includes an enormously developed base ("swell-butted"), the latter 

 being conspicuously infolded or fluted for from 10 to 20 feet above 

 the ground. The thicker layers of wood formed on these ridges 

 appear to be made at the expense of the thinner layers of wood in the 

 intervening hollows, the different rates of growth thus resulting in a 

 fluted trunk. The fluted appearance is less pronounced in the case 

 of small trees. Height and diameter growth varies greatly from the 



50 According to Elwes and Henry (1. c), W. Lobb introduced Thuja plicata into cultivation in England 

 in 1853, the trees raised in Veitch's nursery at Exeter having been distributed under the name "Thuja 

 lobbi." These authors state that the largest trees now growing in England were raised from seed planted 

 in about 1860, and were, in 1906, approximately 95 feet in height and 3J feet in diameter. Many trees in 

 various parts of Great Britain now over 60 or 70 feet high were grown from seed within 50 years. The above 

 authors state that Thuja plicata flourishes also in Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, where there are a number 

 of treesfrom 60 to 70 feet high and from 2 to nearly 3 feet in diameter. The excellent timber and ornamental 

 form of this tree and its rapid growth have made it a favorite in Great Britain, where small forest plantations 

 of it already have been set out. 



As nearly as can be ascertained, Thuja plicata was first grown in Germany in about 1878. Few of the 

 trees raised, however, survived serious injury from late frosts and the fungous disease known as Pestalozzia 

 funerea, this disease killing many of the trees after they had reached an age of 10 years. In the early nineties 

 the German Government imported considerable quantities of the seed of this species to test further the tree 's 

 value for forest planting in Germany. The tree was also extensively tested in Austria. Little is known 

 now of the exact results of all of these trials, except that late frosts and the above-mentioned fungous disease 

 greatly hindered the growth of the trees. 



Thuja plicata has been sparingly planted for ornament in our northern and middle Atlantic States. 

 Prof. C S. Sargent (Silva, X, 130, 1896) says it endures the winters of eastern Massachusetts. Seedlings 

 raised from seed sown in the spring of 1916 at Letchworth Park Forest and Arboretum, Wyoming County, 

 N. Y., have survived the winter of that year and probably will prove hardy in that locality, although at least 

 several years' trial are necessary to establish this as a fact. 



