PINETUM DANlCUMi 



269 



Introduced about the year 1848. 



Wintered indoors. Large plants are here and there used for 

 decorative purposes. 



L. tetragona, Endl. Syn. Conif. 44 (excl. syn. Juniperus uvifera) ; 

 Knight, Syn. Conif. 15 (excl. syn. J. uvifera) ; Paxt. Flow. Gard. i. 

 46, f. 32 ; C. Gay, FL Chil. v. 407 ; Carr. Man. des PI. iv. 320, and 

 Tr. Gen. Conif. 87 (excl. syn. T. uvifera) ; R. A. Philippi, PI. Chil. 

 n. 711 ; Henk. and Hochst. Syn. der Nadelh. 285 (excl. J. uvifera). 

 Alerse or Alerze, King, Beagle, i. 182 ; C. Gay, I.e. Pinus cupressoides, 

 Molin. Chil. 316. Thuya tetragona, Hook. Journ. of Bot. iii. 148, t. 4. 



Habitat. — From Chili to Magellan. 



Introduced in 1863. 



Rare. Wintered indoors. 



Lihocedrus tetragona is, according to some authors, the Alerze of the 

 Chilians, by whom it is justly valued as one of the most important 

 timber trees of their country. The wood is almost indestructible by 

 the weather, boards and shingles that have been exposed for upwards 

 of one hundred years being worn quite thin, but remaining perfectly 

 sound. It is reddish in colour, soft, easy to work, and useful for 

 every description of carpentry. Alerze timber is exported in con- 

 siderable quantities from Yaldivia and Chiloe to the various ports 

 along the Pacific coast of South America. From the fibrous inner 

 bark is obtained a kind of tow, imperishable in water, which is much 

 used by the seafaring people of Chiloe and the adjacent coast for 

 making the joints of their skifis and small craft water-tight. " De la 

 corteza filamentosa se obtiene una estopa incorruptible dentro del 

 agua, y que la gente del pais utiliza con mucha ventaja para tapar las 

 junturas de sus piraguas" (C. Gay, " Yictorie del Chile," 108). 



5. THUYA.— Tourn. Inst. 586, t. 358 ; Linn. Gen. n. 1079, 

 except spec. ; Juss. Gen. 413 ; Endl. Gen. PI. 258, n. 1790, and 

 Conif. 50 ; Spach, Hist, des Yeg. Phaner. xi. 337 ; Carr. Conif. 

 ed. 1, 101, ed. 2, 165. Thuya species, Gord. Pin. 321 ; L. C. Rich, 

 Conif. t. 7, f. 1 ; Mich. N. Am. Sylv. t. 156 ; Wats. Dendrol. Brit, 

 t. 150 ; Nees. Gen. Fl. Germ. Monochl. n. 11 ; E, Hall in Coulter's 

 Bot. Gazette, ii. 91 ; G, M. Dawson in Canadian Nat. new ser. ; T, 

 Howell in Coulter's Bot. Gazette, vi. ; Hoopes, Evergreens, 317 ; 

 Yasey, Cat. Forest Trees, 36 ; Yeitch, Manual Conif. 261 ; Bell in 

 Geological Rep. Canada, 1879-80, 47c ; Beissner, Nadelholzk. 9, 32. 



Flowers monoecious, the male catkins oval, the female ones solitary 

 and terminal. 



Cones ovate-oblong, solitary, terminal, leathery, and smooth, with 

 a projecting tubercle below the apex of each scale. 



Scales valvate, from six to ten in number, in opposite pairs^ and 

 mostly unequal in size. 



