136 
TilE COTTAGE GAEDENEH 'AND COUNTED GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. —May 20, 1856. ' 
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rivers take their rise much further hack in the interior. 
The whole country, from the Andes to the sea, is formed of 
a succession of ridges of mountains gradually rising from 
the sea to the central ridge. The whole is thickly wooded 
from the base to the snow line. Ascending the Andes of 
Comau, I observed from the water to a considerable eleva¬ 
tion the forest is composed of a variety of trees, and a sort 
of cane so thickly matted together that it formed almost an 
impenetrable jungle. Further up, amongst the melting 
snows, vegetation becomes so much stunted in growth, 
that the trees, seen below 100 feet high and eight feet in 
diameter, only attain the height of six inches. 
“ On reaching the summit no vegetation exists—nothing 
but scattered barren rocks which appear to rise amongst 
the snow, which is thirty feet in depth, and frozen so hard 
that on walking over it the foot makes but a slight im¬ 
pression. 
“ To the east, as far as the eye can command, it appears 
perfectly level. To the south, one sees the central ridge of 
the Andes stretching along for an immense distance, and 
covered with perpetual snow. To the west, the whole of 
the islands, from Guaytecas to the -extent of the Archipe¬ 
lago, is evenly and distinctly to be seen. 
“ A little below this elevation the scenery is 
also singular and grand. Eocky precipices 
stand like perpendicular walls from 200 feet 
to 300 feet in height, over which roll the waters 
from the melting snows, which appear to the 
eye like lines of silver. Sometimes these 
waters rush down with such force, that rocks 
of many tons in weight are precipitated from 
their lofty stations to the depth of 2000 feet. 
In the forest below everything appears calm 
and tranquil; scarcely the sound of an animal 
is heard; sometimes a few butterflies and 
beetles meet the eye, but not a house or 
human being is seen. On the sandy tracts 
near the rivers, the lion or puma is frequently 
to be met with ; but this animal is perfectly 
harmless if not attacked.” 
It is from this wild and uninhabited country 
that many of the fine plants raised by Messrs. 
Yeitch were obtained, and among them the 
Sa.ve-Gothcea, Pndocarpus nubigena, Fizt-lloya 
palagonica, and Libocedrus tetrugona. Of these 
he writes thus :— 
“ The two last (Filz-lioga and Libocedrus) 
I never saw below the snow line. The former 
inhabits the rocky precipices, and the latter 
the swampy places between the mountains. 
The first grows to an enormous size, particu- 
larly about the winter snow line, where I have 
seen trees upwards of 100 feet high, and more 
than eight feet in diameter. It may be traced 
from this elevation to the perpetual snows, 
where it is not more than four inches in height. 
"With these grow the Yews ( Saxe-Gotheea and 
Podocarpus nubigena), which are beautiful 
evergreen trees, and, as well as the others, 
afford excellent timber.” 
Saxj2-Gotb;ea may be described as a genus 
with the male flowers of a Podocarp, the fe¬ 
males of a Dammar, the fruit of a Juniper, the 
seed of a Dacrydium, and the habit of a Yew. 
Its fleshy fruit, composed of consolidated 
scales, enclosing nut-like seed, and forming 
what is technically called a Galbulus, places it 
near Juniperus, from which it more especially 
differs in its anthers not being peltate, nor ifs 
fruit composed of a single whorl of perfect 
scales, and in its ovule having two integments 
instead of one. In the last respect it ap¬ 
proaches Pedocarpus, and especially Dacry- 
dium; but the exterior integument of the 
seed is a ragged abortive membrane, envelop¬ 
ing the base only of the seed, instead of a well- 
defined cup. In a memorandum in my pos¬ 
session, by Sir 'William Hooker, I find this 
distinguished botanist comparing Saxe-Gothtea 
A.— Branch of Saxc-Gotlitea conspicua. to a Todocarp with the flowers in a cone—a 
SAXE-GOTPI2EA CONSPICUA. 
This remarkable plant, lo which His Eoyal Highness 
Prince Albert has been pleased to permit one of his titles 
to be given, and which will probably rank among the most 
highly valued of our hardy evergreen trees, is a native of 
the mountains of Patagonia, where it was found by Mr. 
William Lobb, forming a beautiful tree thirty feet high. 
In the nursery of Messrs. Yeitch, of Exeter, it has lived in 
the open air for four years without shelter, and has all the 
appearance of being well apapted to the climate of England. 
The country in which it grows is, indeed, more cold and ! 
stormy than any part of Great Britain, as is shown by the 
following account of it, given by Mr. Lobb in one of his 
letters to Messrs. Yeitch:— 
“ During my absence I visited a great part of Cliiloe, ! 
most of the islands in the Archipelago, and the coast of 
Patagonia for about 140 miles. 1 went up the Corcobado, | 
Caylin, Alman, Comau, Eeloncavi, and other places on the ' 
coast, frequently making excursions from the level of the J 
sea to the line of perpetual snow. These bays generally 
rim to the base of the central ridge of the Andes, and the 
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