190 ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW 
as the redwood, S. sempervirens. Of the latter, the specimens here 
are some of the finest in Britain. From this point to the end of the 
Pinetum, some 150 yards farther on, the area is almost entirely 
occupied by the cypresses and Thuyas, most notable of which is a 
fine group of the numerous forms of Lawson cypress. 
Just before reaching the eastern extremity of the Pinetum, a 
gravel path starts out at right angles from the one we have been 
Larches traversing, and passes through the woodland to the Tem- 
perate House. Both sides of this end of the walk are 
occupied by a collection of larches. Here are the finest specimens 
in England of the West American larch ( Larix occidentalis), and 
some good ones of the Japanese larch (L. leptolepis), both of par- 
ticular interest as possible substitutes in Britain for the common 
European larch, the value of which as a timber-producing tree has 
deteriorated greatly through disease. 
