Freight Trains

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Sequoiadendron, Sequoia, Metasequoia Glyptostroboides, Cupressaceae, Leyland Cypress, Metasequoia, Cryptomeria, Pilgerodendron, Tetraclinis, Platycladus, Cunninghamia, Fitzroya, Thujopsis, Fokienia, Austrocedrus, Glyptostrobus, Glyptostrobus Pensilis, Cypress, Athrotaxis, Athrotaxis Selaginoides, Taiwania, Papuacedrus, Microbiota, Athrotaxis Cupressoides, Athrotaxis Laxifolia, Cypress Knee, Taxodiaceae, Neocallitropsis, Diselma, Pine-Cypress Forest, Cypress-Pine. Excerpt: See text end{sloppypar Athrotaxis is a genus of two to three species (depending on taxonomic opinion) of conifers in the cypress family, Cupressaceae . The genus is endemic to western Tasmania , where they grow in high altitude temperate rainforests . They are medium-sized evergreen trees , reaching 10-30 m (rarely 40 m) tall and 1-1.5 m trunk diameter. The leaves are scale-like, 3-14 mm long, are borne spirally on the shoots. The cones are globose to oval, 1-3 cm diameter, with 15-35 scales, each scale with 3-6 seeds ; they are mature in 7-9 months after pollination, when they open to release the seeds. The male (pollen) cones are small, and shed their pollen in early spring. They are very susceptible to bush fires , and have declined markedly in abundance due to accidental and deliberate fires since the European colonisation of Tasmania. Species The three taxa of Athrotaxis are variously treated as three distinct species, or as two species, with the third taxon being a hybrid between the other two. To date, the evidence has been inconclusive, with some data suggesting hybrid origin, but other evidence suggesting the third is distinct and not a hybrid. Cultivation and uses The wood is scented and durable, and was extensively used in the past in Tasmania, but is now too rare for any cutting. All three make ver...