The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland/Volume 3/Libocedrus

by Henry John Elwes and Augustine Henry

 

LIBOCEDRUS

 

Libocedrus, Endlicher, Syn. Conif. 42 (1847); Bentham et Hooker, Gen. Pl. iii. 426 (1880); Masters, Journ. Linn. Soc. (Bot.), xxx. 19 (1892), and Gard. Chron. xxx. 467 (1900).

Heyderia, Koch, Dendrologie, ii. 2, p. 179 (1873).

Calocedrus, Kurz, Journ. Bot. xi. 196 (1873).

Thuya, Baillon, Hist. Pl. xii. 34 (1892).

 

Evergreen trees with aromatic odour, belonging to the tribe Cupressineæ of the order Coniferæ, closely resembling Thuya in habit and other characters, the branches as in that genus ending in frondose "branch-systems," which are flattened in one plane and three- to four-pinnately divided, with their axes bearing scale-like leaves in four ranks. On the main axes the leaves are often remote by the lengthening of the nodes; on the lateral axes they are closely imbricated, and vary in the different species in size and form, as detailed in the three sections below. In seedling plants the leaves are always linear-lanceolate and spreading.

Flowers: monœcious with those of the two sexes on different branchlets, or rarely diœcious, solitary, terminal. Male flowers oblong, subsessile, with six to twenty stamens decussately opposite on a slender axis; filaments short, dilated into broadly ovate or orbicular scale-like peltate connectives, which bear usually four sub-globose anther-cells, two-valved and opening on the back. Female flowers oblong; subtended at the base by several pairs of leaf-like scales, which persist slightly enlarged under the fruit; composed of four or six decussately opposite acuminate bracts; lowest pair small, unfertile; next pair above fertile, bearing at the base two erect ovules on a minute accrescent ovular scale; uppermost pair when present unfertile.

Cones small, pendulous or erect, ripening and letting out the seed in the first year, persistent empty on the branchlets in the second year. Scales decussate, four or six; the lowermost pair short, thin, often reflexed; the next pair long, thickened, woody, widely spreading at maturity, marked externally close to the apex by the shortly acuminate or long-beaked tip of the bract; third pair, when present, connate into an erect median partition. Seeds, two or one by abortion on each of the two fertile scales, with two lateral wings, one broad, oblique, nearly as long as the scale; the other short, narrow, or rudimentary; cotyledons two.

Eight species of Libocedrus have been described, remarkable for their distribution over widely separated areas in the two hemispheres. Three sections may be distinguished:—

 

I. Ultimate branchlets on mature trees tetragonal, bearing leaves all alike and uniform in size.

1. Libocedrus tetragona, Endlicher. Chile, Patagonia.

Leaves spreading.

2. Libocedrus Bidwilli, Hooker. New Zealand.

Leaves closely appressed.

II. Ultimate branchlets flattened, with leaves of two kinds; lateral boat-shaped, median flat and appressed.

A. Median and lateral leaves equal in length.

3. Libocedrus decurrens, Torrey. Oregon, California, W. Nevada.

Leaves green on both surfaces.

4. Libocedrus macrolepis, Bentham et Hooker. China, Formosa.

Leaves glaucous on the lower surface, with white stomatic bands.

B. Lateral leaves much longer than the median leaves.

5. Libocedrus chilensis, Endlicher. Chile.

Median leaves minute, rounded at the'apex, with a conspicuous gland.

6. Libocedrus Doniana, Endlicher. New Zealand.

Median leaves ovate, acute, mucronate, scarcely glandular.

The two following species, imperfectly known and not introduced, will only be mentioned here. They belong to the last section:—

7. Libocedrus papuana, F.v. Mueller.^[1] New Guinea.

8. Libocedrus austro-caledonica, Brongniart et Gris.^[2] New Caledonia.

 

LIBOCEDRUS TETRAGONA

 

Libocedrus tetragona, Endlichler, Syn. Conif. 44 (1847); Lindley and Paxton, Flower Garden, i. 47, f. 32 (1850); Kent, Veitch's Man. Coniferæ, 256 (1900).

Libocedrus cupressoides, Sargent, Silva N. Amer. x. 134 (1896).

Thuya tetragona, Hooker, London Journ. Bot. iii. 148, t. 4 (1844).

Pinus cupressoides, Molina, Saggio Sulla Storia Naturale del Chile, 168 (1782).

 

A tree^[3] attaining in South America, though rarely, a height of 160 feet. Branchlets tetragonal. Leaves equal in size and uniform in shape in the four ranks; those on the ultimate branchlets about ¹⁄₁₂ inch long, adnate only at the base, the remaining part free and spreading; ovate, acute, or rounded at the apex, keeled on the back, concave and glaucescent above; those on primary axes larger, adnate for the most of their length, the apices only being free and spreading.

Cones on long branchlets, less than ¹⁄₂ inch long, brown. Scales four, minutely pubescent on the margin, each bearing above the middle on the back a lanceolate, subulate, erect, incurved spine; the two smaller scales lanceolate; the two larger scales oblong, each bearing a solitary seed; the larger wing oblique, obovate, obtuse, twice as long as the seed, the shorter wing narrow. (A.H.)

This tree inhabits the western slopes of the Andes of Chile from latitude 35° southwards, and was collected by me in February, 1902, on the west end of Lake Nahuel-Huapi at two to three thousand feet. It was growing both on swampy ground, where it attained a considerable size, and on the steep hill-sides above Puerto Blest. The natives of the district call it Alerce,^[4] which is the usual name in South Chile for Fitzroya patagonica, and use it for making long straight thin shingles, which seem to be extremely durable. Owing to the inaccessible nature of the country and the scarcity of inhabitants, little or no timber has as yet been cut in the dense forests which clothe the shores of this large and picturesque lake. Judging from the climate, which is severe in winter, this beautiful tree should be hardy in the west and south-west of Great Britain and Ireland. According to Dusen and Macloskie,^[5] it is common in Western Patagonia, extending through Fuegia to Cape Horn, rising up to the snow-line in the mountains, and met with of all sizes, from 2 to 160 feet high. As a rule it never forms forests, but grows either in small thin groves or sparingly mixed with Nothofagus betuloides and Drimys Winteri.

It was introduced by W. Lobb^[6] in 1849, but is excessively rare in cultivation, the only specimen we have seen being a small tree 15 feet high, in 1906, at Kilmacurragh, Co. Wicklow. This tree is narrowly pyramidal in habit, with bark scaling off in long papery ribbons.(H.J.E.)

 

LIBOCEDRUS CHILENSIS

 

Libocedrus chilensis, Endlicher, Syn. Conif. 44 (1847); Lindley, Journ. Hort. Soc. v. 35 (1850); Lindley and Paxton, Flower Garden, i. 48, £. 33 (1850); Kent, Veitch's Man. Coniferæ, 252 (1900).

Thuya chilensis, Don, in Lambert, Pinus, ii. 19 (1824); Hooker, London Journ. Bot. ii. 199, t. 4 (1843).

Thuya andina, Poeppig et Endlicher, Nov. Gen. et Spec. iii. 17, t. 220 (1845).

 

A tree, attaining in Chile 50 feet in height, usually with a short trunk branching into a compact pyramidal head, or becoming at high altitudes a dense shrub. Branchlets compressed, slender; leaves scale-like in four imbricated ranks, those of the lateral ranks much longer than the others, boat-shaped, free at the apex, and spreading for one-third their length, keeled, acute, marked above and below with a white stomatic band; median leaves, minute, appressed, rounded at the apex, the dorsal with a prominent gland.

 

 

Plate 141: Libocedrus chilensis in Chile

Plate 141.

LIBOCEDRUS CHILENSIS IN CHILE

 

Cones^[7] on short branchlets, ½ inch long; scales four, each with a minute projecting point below the apex, bright brown, two larger fertile and two smaller unfertile. Seeds one or two on each of the larger scales, oblique, with a narrow short wing on one side below, and an oblique broad oval wing on the other side above, the two wings being upper and lower, rather than lateral in position. (A.H.)

A tree, said by Bridges—who was the first to send home seeds to Low of Clapton in 1847—to attain occasionally 80 feet in height. It grows on the lower slopes of the Andes of Southern Chile, from lat. 34° southward to Valdivia; and was collected by me in the valley of the Rio Limay below Lake Nahuel-Huapi at 3500 to 4500 feet. Here it grows scattered on grassy hillsides or in open groves, and is a graceful tree of 50 to 60 feet in height. A photograph of our camp in this valley, taken by Mr. Calvert, gives a good idea of its appearance (Plate 141).

Though from the climate of the region in which it grows, this tree ought to be hardy in the warmer parts of England, and though in Mr. Palmer's tables a small number of trees seem to have survived the frost of 1860-61, as at Bishopstowe, Nettlecombe, Southampton, and even at Keir in Perthshire, yet by far the greater number of the plants introduced in 1847 were killed; and it is now very rare in cultivation; but seems, though slow in growth, to thrive at several places. By far the largest specimen I have seen is at Whiteway near Chudleigh, Devon, the property of Lord Morley, which in 1907, according to the measurements of the gardener, Mr. Nanscawen, was 46 feet 8 inches by 5½ feet. We have also seen specimens in England at Blackmoor, Hants, the seat of Lord Selborne; and in Ireland at Castlewellan, the largest tree there being 20 feet high in 1903; at Powerscourt, where in 1906 there was a tree 28 feet high by 3 feet 3 inches, with the bark scaling off in long, narrow, papery slips, the habit being much wider than that of L. decurrens, with ascending branches; and at Kilmacurragh, Wicklow, where there is a tree 25 feet in height. (H.J.E.)

 

LIBOCEDRUS DONIANA

 

Libocedrus Doniana, Endlicher, Syn. Conif. 43 (1847); Kirk, Forest Flora New Zealand, 157, tt. 82, 82a (1889); Kent, Veitch's Man. Coniferæ, 254 (1900); Cheeseman, New Zealand Flora, 646 (1906).

Libocedrus plumosa, Sargent, Silva N. Amer. x. 134 (1896).

Dacrydium plumosum, D. Don, in Lambert, Pinus, ed. 2, Appendix 143 (1828).

Thuya Doniana, Hooker, London Journ. Bot. i. 571, t. 18 (1842).

 

A tree, attaining in New Zealand 100 feet in height and 15 feet in girth, with reddish, stringy bark scaling off in ribbons. Branchlets flattened, with leaves similar in shape and arrangement to those of L. chilensis; lateral leaves adnate in the lower half, free and spreading in the upper half, acute, mucronate, green and shining above, glaucescent with a white band below; median leaves appressed, ovate, acute, mucronate, scarcely glandular.

Cones about ½ inch long; scales four, each with a lanceolate acuminate, erect, incurved spine above the middle on the back; two lower scales half the size of the others, acute; two upper scales rounded at the apex, each bearing one seed, which has two lateral wings, one short and narrow, the other broad and entire or sub-dentate.

This tree occurs in the North Island of New Zealand, in forests from Mongonui southward to Hawke's Bay and Taranaki, at elevations from sea-level to 2000 feet, usually rare and local. Kawaka is the native name, and it is also known as the New Zealand Arbor Vitæ, the dark red wood, beautifully grained and durable, being used in cabinet-making.

It is occasionally seen in conservatories; the only tree growing in the open, that we know of, being one at Powerscourt, which was 20 feet high and 18 inches in girth in 1903.(A.H.)

 

LIBOCEDRUS BIDWILLI

 

Libocedrus Bidwilli, J.D. Hooker, Flora New Zealand, i. 257 (1867); Kirk, Forest Flora New Zealand, 159, tt. 82a, 83 (1889); Cheeseman, New Zealand Flora, 647 (1906).

 

A tree similar to L. Doniana, but smaller, attaining a maximum of 80 feet in height and 12 feet in girth; but often bushy at high altitudes and on peat-bogs.

Branchlets on young trees like those of L. Doniana, but more slender; on old trees tetragonal, ¹⁄₂₀th to ¹⁄₁₀th inch in diameter, clothed with densely imbricated, minute, scale-like leaves, uniform in size and shape in the four ranks, closely appressed, boatshaped, ovate, acute, green in colour. Cones like those of L. Doniana, but smaller, ¹⁄₄ to ¹⁄₃ inch long.

This tree occurs both on the North and South Islands of New Zealand, from Te Aroha mountain and Mount Egmont southward to the Foveaux Strait, not uncommon in hilly and mountain forests at 800 to 4000 feet elevation. It is known as cedar or Pahautea, and has soft, red, and rather brittle wood. This species has not apparently been introduced, though judging from its occurrence higher in the mountains and more southerly in latitude than L. Doniana, it ought to be hardy in the milder parts of the British Isles.(A.H.)

 

LIBOCEDRUS MACROLEPIS

 

Libocedrus macrolepis, Bentham et Hooker, Gen. Pl. iii. 426 (1880); Kent, Veitch's Man. Coniferæ, 255 (1900); Masters, Gard. Chron. xxx. 467 (1901); Henry, Garden, lxii. 183, with figure of tree (1902).

Calocedrus macrolepis, Kurz, Journ. Bot. xi. 196, t. 133 (1873).

 

A tree, attaining in China 100 feet in height, broadly pyramidal in habit, with whitish, scaly bark. This species resembles L. decurrens in foliage—the frondose branch-systems being, however, more flattened, and the leaves thinner in texture and larger at the corresponding stages of growth than in that species—the best mark of distinction being the glaucous tint of the leaves beneath, Staminate flowers oblong, tetragonal; stamens sixteen to twenty. Cones on very slender branchlets (which are modified in being tetragonal, with minute appressed leaves uniform in the four ranks), about ¾ inch long, purplish or dark brown, roughened externally by longitudinal ridges; scales six, resembling those of L. decurrens, but smaller and with blunter minute processes. Seed, one on each of the two middle scales; two-winged, with the larger wing broader in the middle and more obtuse than in the Californian species.

This species occurs in the forests of Southern Yunnan in China, at 4000 to 5000 feet, but is rarely met with wild, and only in ravines near water-courses. It was discovered by Anderson near Hotha in 1888; and was subsequently seen by me wild, near Talang, and frequently planted in temples. It is known to the Chinese in Yunnan as Poh or Peh; and the wood is much esteemed, especially that of logs often found buried, the result of inundations in past times. Specimens of this species, so far as one can judge by the foliage alone, have been sent to Kew from North Formosa by Bourne.

The Chinese Libocedrus was introduced by Mr. E.H. Wilson, who collected seeds when he was paying me a visit at Szemao in the autumn of 1899. Young plants,^[8] raised at the Coombe Wood Nursery, have beautiful, glaucous, large, flat foliage, the apices of the leaves being tipped with very fine, long, cartilaginous points. They may also be seen in the temperate house at Kew. The tree would probably be hardy in Cornwall and the south-west of Ireland, and being highly ornamental, is worth a trial in warm, sheltered spots. (A.H.)

 

LIBOCEDRUS DECURRENS, Incense Cedar

 

Libocedrus decurrens, Torrey, Smithsonian Contrib. vi. 7, t. 3 (1854); Sargent, Silva N. Amer. x. 135, t. 534 (1896), and Trees N. Amer. 73 (1905); Kent, Veitch's Man. Coniferæ, 253 (1900); Mayr, Fremdländ. Wald- u. Parkbäume, 315 (1906).

Thuya Craigana, Murray, Botan. Exped. Oregon, 2, t. 5 (1853).

Thuya gigantea, Carrière, Rev. Hort. 1854, p. 224 (in part) (not Nuttall).

Heyderia decurrens, Koch, Dendrologie, ii. 2, p. 179 (1873).

 

A tree, attaining in America 180 feet in height and 21 feet in girth, with a straight stem tapering from a broad base. Bark nearly an inch thick, light cinnamon-red, irregularly fissuring into ridges covered with appressed flat scales.

Leaves shining green, each set of four equal in length, adnate for most of their length to the branchlets, but free at the tips, which end in fine cartilaginous points; about ⅛ inch long on the conspicuously flattened secondary and tertiary axes, increasing to ½ inch on the main axes, which are only slightly flattened: those of the lateral ranks boat-shaped, gradually narrowing to an acuminate apex, keeled and glandular on the back, covering in part the median leaves, which are obscurely glandular and flattened, with broadly triangular cuspidate apices.

Flowers appearing in January at the end of short lateral branchlets of the previous year; staminate, ¼ inch long; pistillate, with ovate, acute, greenish-yellow scales, subtended at the base by two to six pairs of slightly altered leaves, which persist yellowish, sharp-pointed and membranous at the base of the fruit.

Cones about an inch long, pendulous, reddish-brown, on short branchlets with ordinary leaves. Scales six; lower pair short with a reflexed process; middle pair long, lanceolate, gradually narrowing to a rounded apex, below which is a minute deltoid spreading or reflexed process, and concave on the inner surface at the base, with depressions for the seeds; upper pair connate into a thick, woody, median partition, slightly longer than the fertile scales, crowned by three minute spines. Seeds four, two collateral on each of the middle scales; body, ⅓ to ½ inch, lanceolate, pale brown, containing liquid resin, marked with a white hilum on each surface at the base; wings two lateral, one short and narrow, the other oblique, produced above the seed, nearly as long as the scale, rounded at the narrow apex, and about one-third as broad as long in the middle widest part. Seedling.—Seedlings sown at Colesborne in spring were about 3 inches high in August, and had a slender tap-root, about 5 inches long. Caulicle, 1¼ inch long, terete, brownish, glabrous. Cotyledons, two, 1⅝ inch long, linear, nearly uniform in width, rounded at the apex, green beneath, marked above with numerous inconspicuous stomatic lines. Primary leaves variable in number, first pair opposite, succeeded by three or four whorls in sets of four each, or only one or two whorls are produced; linear, ¾ inch long, tapering to an acuminate apex, glaucous on both surfaces with indistinct stomatic lines. Above the primary leaves the stem gives off branches, and produces scale-like small leaves, arranged in four ranks, and intermediate in character between the primary leaves and the adult foliage. (A.H.)

 

Distribution

Libocedrus decurrens was discovered by Fremont in 1846 on the upper waters of the Sacramento river. It was introduced in 1853 by Jeffrey, who collected for the Oregon Botanical Association of Edinburgh; and his specimens were named by Murray Zhuya Craigana in honour of Sir W. Gibson Craig, one of the members of the association. Carriére confused the tree with Thuya gigantea; and for some time there was great confusion in the nomenclature of the two species. Libocedrus decurrens is the name now universally adopted.

According to Sargent, the distribution extends from the north fork of the Santiam river in Oregon, lat. 44° 50', southward along the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains, and through the Sierra Nevada in California, occasionally crossing the range into Western Nevada; also along the Californian coast ranges from Mendocino county to the San Bernardino, San Jacinto, and Cuyamaca Mountains, reaching its most southerly point on Mount San Pedro Martin, half-way down the peninsula of Lower California. Sargent states that it is rather rare in Oregon, ascending to 5000 feet, and in the Californian coast ranges, where it rises to 5000 to 7000 feet; being most abundant and of largest size in the sierras of Central California at 3000 to 5000 feet, thriving best on warm, dry hillsides, plateaux, and the floors of open valleys, usually growing singly or in small groves, often mixed with Pinus ponderosa and black oak.

Henry saw it in Oregon on the eastern spurs of the coast range near Kerby; and found it common on the road from there south-west across the Siskiyou range into Northern California, where it grew near Gasquet's Inn, about twenty miles inland from Crescent City on the coast. In these localities it occurred scattered on dry, sunny hills, in situations similar to that of Pinus ponderosa, at 2000 to 3000 feet altitude, and was not seen in shaded, moist ravines. The trees here are broadly pyramidal in habit, not assuming the columnar form of English cultivated trees, and of no great size, the largest measured being 123 feet by 11 feet 1 inch.

Plummer, in his report on the Cascade Forest Reserve, where a good illustration is given, on p. 102, of a grove of this tree, says:—"The incense cedar is almost always hollow-trunked or dry-rotted at the heart, even though the tree may have every outward appearance of perfect health. The wood has been very little used for any purpose but fuel or fencing, and is not cut when better is obtainable. It is said by Rothwell and Rix to ascend the mountains as high as 5750 feet."

Sudworth in his report on the Stanislaus and Lake Tahoe forest reserves^[9] says that it is here an abundant tree at between 3500 and 5500 feet, but extends from 2000 to 7000 feet. Mature trees are from 80 to 100 feet high, and 4 to 7 feet in diameter, attaining these dimensions in from 100 to 200 years. Large trees, as shown by a photograph (plate cxiii. of Sudworth), are almost always rotten at heart. Reproduction by seed is good and abundant almost everywhere, especially in the drier situations.

The largest trees I have seen were on the lower slope of Mount Shasta at about 4000 feet, where I measured a tree 130 feet by 12 feet 7 inches which had been left standing when the surrounding forest was cut. Here it grew in company with Douglas fir, Abies concolor, and A. magnifica, on dry soil, and though the fruit on ist September was fully formed the seeds were not ripe. The average size of the trees here was go to 100 by 8 or 9 feet. Prof. Sheldon says that it attains 100 to 150 feet high by 3 to 7 feet diameter, but such dimensions are not common.

 

Cultivation

When raised from seed it is somewhat slow in growth at first, but in good nursery soil soon makes a well-rooted plant, which is proof against the worst spring and winter frosts, and seems hardy on heavy soil and in damp situations, where Thuya plicata is sometimes injured when young. It produces very little seed in this country, and these do not always mature, and in consequence is usually propagated by cuttings.

Though it seems doubtful at present whether this tree can be looked on as a timber tree in England, yet on account of its rather stiff and formal habit it is well suited for the formation of small avenues, and when planted close together, as at Ashridge Park, forms a dense shelter without any clipping.

 

Remarkable Trees

The finest tree that I know in England is the one figured (Plate 142) which grows in the grounds at Frogmore. This was planted, as I am told by Mr. M'Kellar, by H.S.H. the Princess of Hohenlohe on 16th March 1857, and must be about 54 years old. It has been stated on a photograph taken for the late Hon. Charles Ellis to be 82 feet high, but when I measured it in 1904 I could not make it more than 65 feet, and being forked at about five feet from the ground its girth was about 9 feet.

Another very fine tree grows close to the house at Bicton, which in 1900 was 60 feet by 7 feet 7 inches; and at Killerton there is a tree 55 feet by 5 feet 5 inches. At Orton Hall, near Peterborough, the tree succeeds very well on rather heavy soil, which does not suit many conifers, and here a tree 60 feet by 6 feet 9 inches has borne fruit, from which Mr. Harding, gardener to the Marquess of Huntly, has raised seedlings, some of which are now 9 feet high; smaller ones which he sent me are growing at Colesborne. At Hardwicke, near Bury St. Edmunds, one of the healthiest young trees I have seen, which was only planted in 1873, is already 48 feet by 4 feet 5 inches. At Crowsley Park, Oxfordshire, a tree planted about 1850 was, in 1907, 53 feet high by 8 feet 1 inch in girth, dividing into two stems at 10 feet from the ground, but forming a very narrow column. At the Wilderness, White Knights, Reading, an extremely narrow tree is 60 feet high by 4% feet in girth, At Nuneham Park, Oxford, there is a fine tree in the pinetum, which is 58 feet by 7 feet. At Bayfordbury, Herts, the best specimen is 52 feet by 5 feet 9 inches.

In Herefordshire the best specimen I know of is at Eastnor Castle, which forks at about 6 feet, and measured in 1906 53 feet by 7 feet 6 inches. There is a nice avenue of it in the grounds at Ashridge Park, and also a circle consisting of 32 trees at only 1 yard apart, which were planted by Earl Brownlow thirty-five years ago, and are now about 35 feet high.

Other remarkable trees which we have seen are at. Fulmodestone, Norfolk, 58 feet by 5 feet 11 inches in 1905; at Highnam, Gloucester, 50 feet by 5 feet 3 inches in 1905; at Beauport, Sussex, 53 feet by 6 feet 2 inches at 2 feet up, dividing into two stems, a conical tree, with extremely dense foliage, in 1904; at Dropmore, a large tree not measured. At Coldrinick, Cornwall, there is a tree which Mr. Bartlett informs us, was, in 1905, 51 feet by 6½ feet. Mr. R. Woodward, jun., measured in 1906 a tree at Wexham Park, Stoke Pogis, 56 feet by 3 feet. At Salhouse, Norfolk, Sir Hugh Beevor measured, in 1904, a tree 57 feet by 6 feet 8 inches. A fine specimen at Tittenhurst, Sunninghill, is figured in Gardeners' Chronicle, xxxvi. 284, fig. 127 (1904).

In Scotland the tree is not so common, though specimens 40 to 50 feet high are growing in various places; the tallest reported at the Conifer Conference or 1891 was at Torloisk in Mull, and then measured 37 feet in height.

At Smeaton-Hepburn, East Lothian, a tree planted in 1843 was measured by Henry in 1905 as 53 feet by 5 feet 4 inches, A tree at Keir, Perthshire, seen

 

Plate 142: Libocedrus decurrens at Frogmore

Plate 142.

LIBOCEDRUS DECURRENS AT FROGMORE

 

by Henry, was 42 feet by 4 feet 10 inches in 1905. At Brahan Castle, Ross-shire, Col. Stewart Mackenzie of Seaforth informed us in 1904 that he had a tree 4 feet 10 inches in girth, height not stated.

In Ireland, Libocedrus decurrens is rare in cultivation. At Stradbally Hall, Queen's County, a fine tree measures 53 feet high by 53 feet in girth. There is a tree at Fota 45 feet high, dividing into two stems at 2 feet from the ground. At Churchill, Armagh, a fine healthy specimen, growing in sand, was 45 feet by 4 feet 10 inches in 1905. At Adare a tree measured, in 1903, 47 feet high by 7 feet 9 inches in girth.

In North Italy this tree grows larger than in England and ripens seed freely, which it rarely does here. At Pallanza, in Rovelli's nursery, I measured a splendid tree over 90 feet high by 9 feet 3 inches in girth. Another on the Isola Madre was 90 feet by 9 feet 10 inches, from which I gathered seed in October 1906, which have produced a good crop of seedlings.

It also ripens seed and grows well in the climate of Paris, and also at Les Barres, and has produced self-sown seedlings at Thiollets (Allier).^[10] The largest I have seen in France is at Verriéres, near Paris, a handsome and well-shaped tree, which measured, in 1905, 50 feet by 5 feet 5 inches, and is figured on plate vii. of Hortus Vilmorinianus (1906).(H.J.E.)

 

1. Trans. Roy. Soc. Victoria, i, 32 (1889).
2. Bull. Soc. Bot. France, xviii. 140 (1871).
3. This tree has been confused by travellers with Fitzroya patagonica, which has very similar foliage when old. In the former, the leaves gradually taper to a rounded or acute apex; in the latter they are broadest in their upper third, close to the rounded apex. The cones are entirely different.
4. Sir W.T. Thiselton-Dyer suggests that this is no doubt a Spanish corruption of the Arabic El Arz, a name which seems to include any coniferous tree, e.g. Cedrus Libani and Pinus halepensis, According to Pearce, the tree producing the valuable alerce timber is Fitzroya patagonica. Cf. Hortus Veitchii, 46 (1906).
5. Scott, Princetown Univ. Exped. Patagonia, viii. 6, 18, 142 (1903).
6. Gard. Chron. 1849, p. 563.
7. Cones ripened on young trees at Les Barres in France in 1900. Pardé, Arb. Nat. des Barres, 31 (1906).
8. A seedling is figured in Ann. of Bot. xvi. 557, fig. 30 (1902), concerning which Sir W. Thiselton Dyer says:—"The primitive leaves are not very different from the cotyledons, with which they are serially continuous; but after a time there is a complete change in the form and disposition of the foliar organs."
9. Washington, 1900.
10. Pardé, Arb. Nat. des Barres, 32 (1906).