9 
PINETUM BRITANNICUM. 
strong conical compressed point, which is straight or recurved. Two or three ovate seeds [figs. 15 and 
16] are attached to each scale; they are clothed with an osseous-like integument, spreading out on each 
side into a membraneous wing, which is emarginate at the apex, and still more so at the base. 
The species has some resemblance to Cupressus Lawsoniana , which may be said to be its 
representative in Oregon and California; but is distinguished by having sulphury yellow, instead of 
crimson-coloured male catkins, and it is more robust, as well as somewhat less elegant in its growth, than 
C. Lawsoniana . Its cones differ in the number of their scales. The foliage is harder, paler, and 
more carinate. Mr Gordon says it reaches the height of 80 or 100 feet, but he does not 
mention his authority for saying so. Dr Newberry says that the individuals he saw of this tree 
were not handsome. They formed trees of moderate size, having much the appearance of Thuja 
occidentalis when growing under the most unfavourable circumstances. The trunk was gnarled and 
twisted, and set with dead branches ; the foliage sparse and ragged, and the whole aspedt disagreeable: 
but he adds that the locality where he found the tree was near the snow-line, and that it is possible 
that it was dwarfed and deformed by the severities of the climate, and may attain the greater height 
specified by other authors in less elevated situations. 
Geographical Distribution. —First observed at Nootka Sound in Vancouver Island. Subsequently 
found by the United States Exploring Expedition in the Cascade Mountains. Dr Newberry, who was 
the botanist of the expedition in which it was met with, says that the only locality in which he saw 
the tree was on these mountains, about lat. 44 0 north, though he had reason to believe that it would 
be found at intervals throughout the Sierra Nevada and the Cascades, in California and Oregon. 
It is also found on the low lands near the coast. Bongard (loc. cit.) records it, under the name of Thuja 
excelsa, as found by Mertens in the island of Sitka, and his description perfectly agrees with it. 
History. —Dr Menzies was the first discoverer of this species. He obtained specimens from 
Nootka Sound when Vancouver (with whom he sailed as surgeon and naturalist) stopped there in his 
celebrated voyage round the world; and from his specimens Lambert described it in his “ Genus Pinus.” 
It was introduced from the Botanic Garden of St Petersburg into Europe, under the name of Thijopsis 
borealis , about 1850, and it is now plentifully distributed. 
Properties and Uses. —These, as yet, are matter of presumption. We see that it makes a pleasant 
addition to the decorations of our lawns, but are not aware that its timber has been tried for any purpose 
beyond the simple wants of the Indians. Mr R. Brown, who collected for the Edinburgh “ British 
Columbia Botanical Association,” in one of his letters incidentally notices one or two of the purposes to 
which it is put. He says, “ Next morning, looking about our neighbourhood, we re-entered our canoe, 
hollowed out of Cupressus Nutkaensis , the mats we sat upon being made of the liber of the same tree, 
ropes of the same material, and occasionally of Thuja plicatad As a young plant it by no means bears 
out Dr Newberry’s unfavourable description. 
Culture. —It does not seem a fast-growing tree. The following list of heights and ages, in different 
localities in Britain, taken about 1862 and 1863, shews the progress it makes — 
Age. 
Monaghan, Glasslough, 14 
Meath, Somerville, 
Gloucestershire, Highnam Court, 12 
Derbyshire, Elvaston, 11 
Height. 
IO ft. 
Isle of Wight, Osborne, 
Age. 
10 yrs. 
Height. 
9 ft. 
Perthshire, Taymouth, 
Age. 
10 yrs. 
Height. 
6 ft. 
IO „ 
Lancashire, Calderston, 
)> 
6 „ 
Stirling, Rosehall, 
yy 
7 ». 
9 » 
Suffolk, Easton Park, 
yy 
8 „ 
Mid-Lothian, Riccarton, 
yy 
7 » 
9 » 
Denbighshire, Hafodunos, 
yy 
8 „ 
Renfrew, Greenock Cemetery, 
yy 
7 » 
But, if slow-growing, it has one compensating quality, and that is that it is sure-growing. Mr 
Palmer’s tables of the worst effects of the winter of 1860-61 give a clean bill of health. Out of 78 places 
reported on (58 in England, 17 in Scotland, and 3 in Ireland), not one case of death occurred, not one 
case of much injured, and only three of slightly injured. 
Commercial Statistics. —Price in i860: 9 to 12 inches, 2s. 6d.; 12 to 18 inches, 3s. 6d. to 5s. In 
1868 the prices were: for plants 9 to 12 inches, is. each; from 12 to 18 inches, is. 6d to 2s. 6d. 
