2 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and corresponding diversity of practice, as will be made evident 

 in the sequel. 



In the vernacular it has always been the " Cedar of Goa " ; 

 but, unfortunately, the convenience of this general agreement is 

 somewhat marred by the fact that the tree is certainly not a Cedar,, 

 and it is, to say the least, doubtful if it has any direct connection 

 with Goa ! 



As to its native country, though often called C. lusitanica, 

 Portuguese botanists repudiate the notion that it is a native of 

 their country, and all of them agree that it was introduced into 

 Portugal from Goa. 



Brotero published in 1804, in his " Flora Lusitanica," the 

 earliest systematic account of the Flora of Portugal as a whole. 

 At p. 216 of the first volume we find in reference to this tree the 

 following remarks : " Cupressus glauca, La Marck. C. foliis 

 quadrifariam imbricatis, acutis : ramis patentissimis, infimis 

 subdependentibus. Lusit. Cedro do Goa. Cupressus Lusitanica,. 

 Tournefort. Colitur uti praicedens [C. scmpervirens] praesertim 

 Conimbricae, Bussaco, et in Beira boreali : a Goa in Lusita- 

 niam olim evecta. Flor. autumno. Arbor procera, ad quin- 

 quaginta pedes et ultra alta, citius crescens, breviori vita 

 fruens, ac ligno minus denso, quam praacedens." At the 

 present time some of the Cypress trees which constitute; 

 the forest of Bussaco, near Coimbra, are said to have a height 

 of 40 metres, and according to a note, the source of which. 

 unfortunately I cannot trace, there are over 5,000 trees y 

 of which more than 500 vary in age from 50 to 240 years, whilst 

 the rest have been planted during the last quarter of a century. 

 The finest and most symmetrical specimen is rather more than 

 30 metres in height, with a bare trunk of 14 metres, which at a 

 metre from the ground girths 3*50 metres. The branches of some 

 of the trees form a mass of verdure 20 to 25 metres across, and 

 70 metres round. 



Indian botanists, on their side, declare that no Cypress grows 

 wild anywhere near Goa, though, at the present time, Cypresses 

 are cultivated in the gardens of Western India, and have been 

 planted along the Western Ghats. It may well have been 

 introduced of late years into the Portuguese possessions from 

 the mother country. Again, though possibly introduced by way 

 of Goa, which was captured by Albuquerque in 1510, it does not 



