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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



7. BIOTA.— Eiidl. Conif. 46 ; Carr. Conif. ed. 2, 92 ; Gord. 

 Pinet. 32. Thuya sp. Linn. Gen. n. 1079. Platycladus, Spach, Hist, 

 des Veg. Phan. xi. 333 (except sp.). Lamb. Pinet. t. 76 ; L. C. Picli. 

 Conif. t. 7, f. 2 ; Forbes, Pinet. Wob. t. 63 ; Bot. Reg. 1842, t. 20 ; 

 Nees, Gen. Fl. Germ. Monochl. xi. ; Sieb. and Zucc. Fl. Jap. t. 117, 

 118 ; Pari, in D. C. Prodr. xvi. 2, 461 ; Koch, Dendr. ii. 180 ; Eichler 

 in Engl, and Prantl. Natiirl. Pflf. ii. 98 ; Beissn. iS'adelh. 54. 



Flowers monoecious ; male catkins oval or conical, female ones 

 solitary and globular. 



Cones roundish, squarrose, and composed of from six to eight 

 leathery valves or scales. 



Scales in opposite decussate pairs, peltate, and furnished with a spiny 

 point just below the apex, and each containing two seeds at the base. 



Seeds in twos under each scale, ventricose, crustaceous, and wing- 

 less, or only furnished with rudimentary ones. 



Cotyledons two. 



Leaves scale-like, very small, in opposite decussate pairs, adpressed 

 or imbricated in four rows. 



Name derived from bi, two, and otis, an ear. 



B. orientalis, Endl. Conif, 47. Thuya orientalis, L. Spec. PI. 

 1422. Thuya acuta, Moench. Meth. 692. Cupressus Thuya, Targ. Tozz. 

 Observ. ii. 52. Flatycladus stricta, Spach, Hist. Veg. Phan. xi. 335. 

 FinoJd altera, Cupressus vulgaris, &c., Kyempf. Amoen. Exot. 884. 



The Biota is a native of China and Japan, especially in Nippon 

 and Sikok, where it has also been long cultivated as an ornamental 

 shrub, and where many interesting varieties have been raised, some of 

 which have been introduced into British gardens. The common form 

 was first brought to Europe about the middle of the eighteenth 

 century by French missionaries ; it has been in cultivation in England 

 since 1752. Very likely this species extends further west and south 

 in Central Asia than even China. 



It seems as if varieties with cylindrical or cone-like forms are more 

 hardy than those of globular form. Of the latter I have seen splendid 

 plants close to the Phine in Germany. 



Biota orientalis seems in Denmark to thrive best on somewhat 

 loamy, and even grows well on cold, ground, where it has attained 

 20 feet in height and more. In the villa quarters near Copenhagen 

 several such plants are to be seen, and they look quite hardy. The 

 more globular-formed varieties are not seen in such aged specimens, 

 and perhaps they would not grow here so luxuriantly. One plant, 

 lately measured, planted in 1864, is 16 feet in height ; another 

 of the same age has only reached a height of 10 feet 6 inches. 



Professor Schiibeler says in his " Viridarium Norvegicum," p. 372, 

 that the Biota does well at Christiania, and here and there along the 

 coast ; but he has not seen it farther north than at Molde (62° 44'). 

 Li Sweden it thrives well in the southern and south-western parts 



